Republican Georgia House Speaker David Ralston sent a letter to Perdue asking for federal support to avoid major budget shortfalls
WATCH: David Perdue said in June he opposes “bailing out fiscally irresponsible states”
As the Senate continues to negotiate the next stimulus package this week, Perdue has yet to publicly back funding for struggling state and local governments
Georgia is already laying off workers because of budget shortfalls
Atlanta, Ga. — Today, investigative journalist and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jon Ossoff joined Georgia Republican Speaker of the House David Ralston in asking Senator David Perdue (R-Ga.) to change course and support funding to help the state of Georgia and cities avoid massive layoffs.
In a letter yesterday to Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Ralston wrote, “With additional financial assistance from the federal government to mediate the depth, breadth and immediacy of declining state revenues, we will continue to work together at our level to implement state responses that mitigate the disruption to Georgians’ needs for health, education and economic support.”
Senate Republicans have refused to support state and local government funding. Earlier this year, Senator Mitch McConnell even suggested Republicans would just let states go bankrupt instead of helping them with the necessary funding.
In June, Perdue who also opposes additional funding for states and localities, said, “we don’t want to bail out these fiscally irresponsible states as a part of this next package.”
Last month, Kemp signed $2.2 billion in budget cuts, about 10 percent of the state’s overall budget, including $8.2 million from the Georgia Department of Public Health budget during the middle of this pandemic. But there is still a $1 billion shortfall in the budget, and localities do not have the same rainy day funds to protect them from the lost tax revenue.
The state has begun layoffs, and according to reports, as of Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities began laying off or had laid off 200 employees.
Ossoff spoke about this issue yesterday, touching on the devastating effects the budget cuts will have on Georgia families who are already struggling.
“I’d be arguing forcefully that the federal government, with its vast resources, needs to step in so that state governments and local governments don’t have to cut vital services and lay off essential public sector employees during this time,” Ossoff said during the event.
Watch and download that video, here.
Today Ossoff adds, “Georgians have already gone through so much. While Senator Perdue said the economic impact of the pandemic would be ‘little,’ he had no problem rubber stamping billions of dollars for his corporate donors while opposing stimulus checks for working Georgians. Now he’s opposing vital and urgent federal support so state and local governments can continue to provide Georgians with vital local services. As this economic crisis continues, David Perdue must reverse his opposition to federal support for state and local government services. Georgians need help, now. We cannot let this economic collapse get worse.”
While Perdue, McConnell, and the Senate GOP continue to fail to pass a next stimulus bill, unemployment benefits and federal eviction protections have also run out.
At a time when Georgia families are being pushed to the brink by Washington political games and infighting, they need leaders who will step up and fight for them. Instead they have David Perdue, who opposes stimulus relief checks for workers and extending unemployment benefits, but had no concerns dishing out billions to the corporate special interests that fund his campaigns.
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