Free Republic

Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow Democrats who lead the state Legislature agreed to a plan Friday that would allow New Jersey’s state government to borrow up to nearly $10 billion to help make up massive losses in tax revenue wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Almost immediately, top Republican leaders announced they plan to file lawsuits to prevent the move, calling the plan “clearly unconstitutional.” Murphy said New Jersey is facing possibly a $20 billion hole in its state budget, and borrowing is one of a few necessary moves the state needs to take balance the budget and avoid widespread...

Most of the budget cuts that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has proposed for the Police Department were identified in response to the coronavirus pandemic - before Black Lives Matter protests surged in the city - rather than in response to police defunding demands made by protesters. But City Council members will meet Wednesday to continue dissecting the Police Department’s budget and discussing additional cuts they could make. Durkan proposed about $20 million in cuts to the Police Department last month, among other changes to Seattle’s 2020 budget that she said would address unexpected city spending related to COVID-19, account for...

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a massive $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill packed with Democrats’ climate wish-list items. Democrats passed the bill 233-188 on a mostly party-line vote. Much of the funding tied to actual transportation measures — $500 billion — is tied to green measures requiring states to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for mitigation as if an unspecified climate catastrophe were on the immediate horizon. President Donald Trump slammed the bill, H.R. 2, as “full of wasteful ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives.” “Naturally this nonsense is not going anywhere in the Senate,” Senate Majority...

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NY City Council have reached an agreement to cut $1 billion from the NYPD budget next year but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it isn’t enough.The mayor appears to have come up with a plan that will shift a big portion of that $1 billion in funding to another city agency without actually cutting anything. But the remainder of the cuts still mean less overtime and that the city won’t be hiring nearly 1,200 new officers: The mayor and the City Council agreed on Monday to reach that $1 billion in cuts by, among...

The recession is hitting state and city budgets hard in the new fiscal year that starts on July 1. They are responding by firing workers, reducing services, and even increasing taxes. Massive federal aid is the only real solution. The new fiscal year for 46 states and many cities begins on Wednesday. And a flood of red ink caused by the deep pandemic recession is forcing them to fire workers, reduce spending and services, and even raise taxes (one of the worst things you can do in a recession). Without Congress providing up to $1 trillion in federal aid, non-federal...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he has proposed a plan for the city to cut $1 billion from the NYPD’s nearly $6 billion budget, according to officials and multiple reports. De Blasio’s announcement falls in line with city council leaders’ calls for the billion-dollar cut to the police department’s budget. The Democratic mayor revealed details of his proposal during a Monday morning press conference. He said his office presented the plan to City Council over the weekend and called this “a moment where we have to address profound issues. We need to redistribute revenue to communities that...

Mayor Jenny Durkan will propose $20 million in cuts to the Seattle Police Department in the last six months of 2020, the largest cuts to any department as the city attempts to fill a budget shortfall of around $400 million this year caused by the novel coronavirus. The city expects to spend $233 million this year responding to the coronavirus, although some of that is money the city would have otherwise spent in other areas. It’s been spent increasing on emergency food and housing assistance, providing free coronavirus testing, on support for first responders, and adapting city staffing and facilities...

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced this morning he is declaring racism a public health crisis and will transfer $3 million from the police overtime budget to help put his order in motion immediately. Walsh said there is a “new urgency” to erase racism in the city and added Boston’s budget for the coming year will reallocate a total of $12 million to programs for youth and more. That will start with the $3 million for the declaration.

Grandstanding Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom reportedly wants to close a 200-resident veterans nursing home in a budget-cutting measure while at the same time enthusiastically handing out about $75 million in direct cash benefits to illegal aliens living in the state. In an extreme example of questionable priorities to say the least, Newsom, a far-left Democrat who is enabled by a Democrat-controlled legislature, targeted the Veterans Home of California-Barstow for closure to save $2.6 million (or perhaps less) as the formerly Golden State faces a corona-virus-induced budget crisis. For Democrats, illegal immigrants are among their primary constituencies.....................

The future of many climate change and renewable energy projects across the United States is in serious doubt as states slash budgets due to the fallout from the CCP virus crisis. With fiscal black holes looming and taxation and other income having been decimated, state governors look set to cut back where they can to ensure the provision of essential services. Rebates for EVs and funding for renewables such as wind and solar are at the top of the chopping list.< A prime example is California. Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a $54 billion budget shortfall due to the CCP (Chinese...

LOS ANGELES— Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that he tasked the city to “identify $250 million in cuts” to invest more money into the black community, communities of color, women and “people who have been left behind." The Los Angeles Times reported that the city will try and cut between $100 million to $150 million from its police budget alone. Garcetti said it is incumbent on the city to “step up and say, ‘What can we sacrifice?’” The mayor said that the city will not increase its police budget of $1.8 billion. Deadline reported that Garcetti said that...

.... The financial crisis wrought by COVID-19 has left America’s more than 13,000 school systems wrestling with the likelihood of big budget cuts. In some, it already has spoiled dreams of expanded funding and teacher pay raises. Advocates are pushing for more federal aid to schools as researchers warn budget woes could lead to massive teacher layoffs - and less learning. The cuts will add to the strain on districts like Catoosa County that never recovered fully from the 2008 recession, which led to sharp staffing declines at American public schools over a period of rising student enrollment. With cuts...

Six California school districts representing more than 900,000 students say the governor's proposed budget cuts will delay the reopening of schools. Officials with the Los Angeles Unified, which is the second largest school district in the country with 600,000 students, joined with five other urban districts in a Monday letter to legislators, saying they need more money to safely reopen schools and not less. The other districts are Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Long Beach. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed $14 billion in budget cuts because of the coronavirus, with more than half coming at the expense...

San Francisco is facing a $1.7 billion deficit over the next two and a half years without even considering emergency response spending on the coronavirus, the mayor's office announced Wednesday. The deficit is the result of the pandemic and the emergency response spending will likely increase the deficit beyond $1.7 billion. That amount could increase if residents continue to be exposed to the virus and a slow recovery from the pandemic begins after late 2020. Expected emergency spending on the coronavirus for the current fiscal year is about $375 million. Portions of the city's expenses will be paid for by...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has a $3 trillion bulge of debt coming through the pipeline because of the coronavirus pandemic. It also has perhaps 30 million or more freshly unemployed Americans to support, tens of thousands of businesses on the ropes, and a possibly extended battle with a virulent disease to underwrite. Given the choice between leaving the economy without a lifeline and making that debt load even bigger, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday sent a not-so-subtle message to U.S. elected officials: Spend whatever you need in this crisis. “There’s a degree of concern at the Fed...

Washington -- As the coronavirus pandemic leaves thousands of Americans dead and roils the economy, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging Congress to move on the next phase of coronavirus relief legislation. In an interview with MSNBC on Monday evening, Pelosi said there is a "monumental" need for the next legislative package, with a focus on helping struggling Americans and cash-strapped states and localities. "We have a big need. It's monumental. And therefore, it's a great opportunity to say: let's work together to get this done. There's a way to open the economy based on science, testing, testing, testing...

Some of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers emphasized on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, forcing three members of the administration’s coronavirus task force into self-quarantine. The president and governors who will decide when to reopen their states are facing competing pressures. More economic activity and travel will likely lead to more people contracting COVID-19. But tight restrictions on which businesses can operate are causing millions of people to join the ranks of the unemployed. Decisions about how fast to reopen come...

About 500 Dallas employees have been furloughed as the city continues to fight its coronavirus budget crunch, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager TC Broadnax announced Friday. The furloughs have been handed out across 10 departments, according to a letter from Broadnax to city employees. "The city manager notified the City Council of his decision on the furloughs this morning. Although I knew such measures were likely, my heart continues to break at the news of more economic pain for people in our city," Johnson said in a statement Friday afternoon. "Further difficulties may still be ahead as we...

Washington-- When Congress passed its $2 trillion economic relief package in response to the coronavirus epidemic battering the country, lawmakers provided relief to Americans, small businesses struggling under the economic pain of the crisis and state and local governments on the frontlines of combatting the virus. But mayors in small and medium-sized communities from coast to coast are sounding the alarm after they were left out of the package, despite facing the same cash crunch as their larger neighbors. Only localities with populations of 500,000 were eligible for direct aid under the law, known as the CARES Act. Those cities...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday began relaxing his stay-at-home order that was issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, while also announcing that the state has a staggering $53.4 billion budget shortfall. The plan to reopen will only allow certain retail businesses and manufacturers' warehouses to start opening up again, according to The Associated Press. Other stores that will be allowed to reopen with curbside service -- if they meet government standards -- are bookstores, clothing stores, florists and sporting goods businesses.