NY Gov. Cuomo slams McConnell's 'ugly' bankruptcy proposal

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion that states could file for bankruptcy "one of the really dumb ideas of all time."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested in a radio interview on Thursday that states could go bankrupt, but said later he did not want states to use federal funds for anything unrelated to the coronavirus.

Cuomo, during a news conference, said McConnell's "blue state bailout" comment was "vicious." Congress passed a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill, providing funds to small businesses and hospitals struggling with the economic toll of a pandemic that has killed more than 47,000 Americans and thrown a record 26 million out of work over the past five weeks, wiping out all the jobs created during the longest employment boom in U.S. history.

But the two parties have set the stage for an angry fight over additional funding for state and local governments reeling from the impact of lost revenue after Republicans refused to include it in the current relief bill.