Ari Fleischer: Day of reckoning coming if we don't get COVID funds under control
Ari Fleischer discusses the repercussions of California borrowing federal money to pay unemployment claims
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Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer joined "Outnumbered" Tuesday to discuss California Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to borrow money from the federal government to make unemployment payments to those left without work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Every time a town, a city, or a county says 'We don’t have money, we need the state to help us,' [or] every time a state says, 'We don’t have money, we need the federal government to help us,' and all of the above, it is coming from the same place, it’s coming from American taxpayers,"Fleischer said. "We’re all one,”
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California borrowed $348 million after receiving approval to use up to $10 billion in federal funds until the end of July, a Treasury Department spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Illinois and Connecticut have also been approved to tap into federal funds to aid with the unemployment claims -- $12.6 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively – but neither state had requested to borrow the money as of the end of April.
California, who would boast the world’s fifth-largest eoconomy if it was an independent nation, has been hit hard economically by the coronavirus pandemic. About 3.7 million people have filed unemployment claims in the state since mid-March.
There is also mounting pressure on Newsom to relax the state’s stay-at-home orders and reopen parts of the economy.
On Tuesday, Fleischer quoted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said, “it’s not about me, it’s about we.”
“[Cuomo] should remember that himself and say it’s all about we, the taxpayers," the former White House press secretary added. "All the money still has to be generated, which is another reason getting back to work is so important because that’s where the money comes from. It comes from working people. That’s the only place it comes from.”
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“The day of reckoning is coming," Fleischer went on. "There is going to be some serious repercussions financially and structurally to the United States if we don’t get this under control.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.