Biden stimulus plan: Kay Ivey joins governors saying proposal will unfairly cost some states

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and 21 other governors are speaking out against President Joe Biden’s $1.9 COVID trillion stimulus package, saying it unfairly punishes some states.

Led by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, the governors – 21 Republicans and one Democrat – have released a statement opposing provisions of how funding would be allocated to states under Biden’s plan. The letter was first reported in USA Today.

Biden’s American Rescue Plan includes $350 billion in direct aid to states and city governments. Most of that funding would be based on unemployment figures and not overall population.

“Unlike all previous federal funding packages, the new stimulus proposal allocates aid based on a state’s unemployed population rather than its actual population, which punishes states that took a measured approach to the pandemic and entered the crisis with healthy state budgets and strong economies,” the governors said.

“A state’s ability to keep businesses open and people employed should not be a penalizing factor when distributing funds. If Congress is going to provide aid to states, it should be on an equitable population basis,” they said, adding states run by Democratic governors stand to do better under the proposal.

Alabama is one of 33 states that could lose funding under the proposal, which was approved by the House last week and is now being debated in the Senate. Alabama could lose some $887 million under the proposal, according to an estimate provided by the governors.

Joining Ivey for the statement were Republican governors from Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was the only Democrat to join the statement.