Editor’s note: As he does every August, Brian Greenspun is taking some time off and is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. Today’s guest columnist is Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.
Nevadans are working tirelessly to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in every corner of our state.
We’ve seen leaders step up during this difficult time and do what is necessary to mitigate the spread of this coronavirus, protect the health and well-being of Nevadans and prevent critical industries and institutions from failing. However, this proactive approach has not come without a cost: Nevada now has to combat an alarming budget shortfall, exacerbated by a struggling economy and a massive drop in tax revenue. As we continue our efforts to deal with this national health and economic crisis, Congress and the Trump administration must act to ensure that critical services go uninterrupted, our teachers and other public servants get paid, and Nevadans are not the ones stuck with the bill.
During the Nevada Legislature’s recent special session, state lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a resolution asking Congress and the Trump administration for funding to state, local and tribal governments to help offset Nevada’s expected $1.2 billion budget shortfall caused by this pandemic, and the flexibility to spend it based on local needs. With near-unanimous support in both the Assembly and the state Senate, Gov. Steve Sisolak offered a stern warning, stating that without additional federal support, our state would be “forced to make impossible decisions regarding funding critical public health, education and more.”
Sisolak is correct. Without additional state and local funding from Congress, Nevada’s budget shortfall would make it difficult to fund our school systems or pay our first responders, and would leave countless Nevadans who rely on public programs in distress.
State and local leaders are the ones best equipped to respond to their communities’ unique needs, but they must have the resources to do it. That is why I voted in support of the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, legislation that was signed into law March 27. Among many other things, the CARES Act established a Coronavirus Relief Fund to support states, tribes and large local governments. This was a necessary and important step, but Congress passed the CARES Act over four months ago, in the early days of the pandemic, and it did not go far enough.
One of the original fund’s shortcomings was that it did not provide direct support to cities and localities with populations under 500,000. For a state like Nevada, this means that with the exception of Las Vegas, every other city in the Silver State was excluded from direct funding from the federal government. From Henderson to Reno, from Sparks to Elko and everywhere in between, cities that are in desperate need of support as they work to combat the coronavirus — even relatively large cities — have been left behind. (Editor’s note: Some cities received pass-through aid from the state and counties.)
That is why in April, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and I helped introduce the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, legislation that would provide $250 billion in new stabilization funds provided directly to cities and counties with populations under 500,000 that are struggling to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to give localities the flexibility to use funds to close revenue shortfalls resulting from a crisis that no leaders at any level of government could have anticipated.
In May, I also joined 32 of my Senate colleagues in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressing the urgent need for additional emergency funding for state and local governments in the next coronavirus relief package, and requesting flexibility for cities and localities that do not meet the Treasury Department’s population cutoff.
Unfortunately, McConnell has yet to propose legislation that provides new funding to state and local governments, nor has he allowed the Senate to take up and debate the HEROES Act, legislation passed by the House that would provide funding for state, local and tribal governments to pay frontline health care workers, first responders, teachers and other state workers who provide essential services to residents. The House passed the HEROES Act over 70 days ago, and the HEALS Act, McConnell’s proposed legislation, does nothing to address this critical issue.
Nevada is not the only state with a budget shortfall. Red states, blue states and cities and towns across the country are struggling to contain the health and fiscal impacts of the pandemic. Members of Congress from across the country and across the aisle must come together to pass legislation to ease their burdens. We are all in this together.