Massachusetts Senator Ed Malarkey warns state and local coronavirus aid may not come until Joe Biden takes office

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey says it would be a “billion-dollar mistake” for federal lawmakers to forgo state and municipal aid in the next coronavirus relief package as local governments.  A Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald file photo.

Massachusetts’ two Democratic US Senators are among the Democrats who look to getting GOP’ed
A Michael Dwyer/AP file photo

Massachusetts Senator Ed Malarkey warns state and local coronavirus aid may not come until President-elect Joe Biden takes office in a month.

Senator Malarkey added that it would be a “billion-dollar mistake” for federal lawmakers to forgo state and municipal aid in the pending coronavirus relief package as state and local governments continue to feel the strain of dual health and economic crises.

Apparently, the geriatric Malarkey forgot that the ask was $160 billion for state and local aid.

While agreement on a $900 billion economic relief package that would include $600 stimulus checks; extended enhanced unemployment benefits, including $300 weekly bonus checks; and money for businesses, vaccines, and, rent and food assistance appears likely this evening after months of partisan bickering, the long-delayed aid likely will not be including the $160 billion for state and local governments that Democrats sought.

Is Quincy Mayor Koch looking at another close haircut on his free-spending ways?
A file photo

Locally, the implications are considerable, if not grave.  Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch drew down roughly 45% of the City of Quincy’s meager reserves given the expectation that federal aid would be coming and so allow Quincy to replenish its now even more meager reserves.

Now, however, Mayor Koch is reduced to hoping that both Democratic challengers in next month’s United States Senate runoff elections in Georgia will win and so give Democrats control of Senate given their holding a potential tiebreaker.

Unfortunately for President Biden, Senator Malarkey and Mayor Koch, the latest polls have been trending such that the Republican incumbents are seeing growing margins to their favor on  top of the ongoing trend in recent years that Republican incumbents who have been seeing increasingly favorable polling as election day approaches tend to win by even greater margins than the final and most positive polling data had intimated.

Source: Ed Markey says state and local coronavirus aid may not come until Joe Biden takes office