As chairman of the @NatlGovAssoc, today I issued the following statement with vice chair @NYGovCuomo to urge federal leaders to provide immediate fiscal relief for the states.

Our full statement: https://governor.maryland.gov/2020/04/11/nations-governors-urge-federal-leaders-to-provide-immediate-fiscal-relief-for-states/

Governors across the country are implementing a variety of stay at home orders and other aggressive measures that are successfully flattening the curve. While these public health strategies are working, they result in catastrophic damage to state economies.

Despite this grave challenge, the recently passed federal CARES Act contained zero funding to offset these drastic state revenue shortfalls.

To stabilize state budgets and to make sure states have the resources to battle the virus and provide the services the American people rely on, Congress must provide immediate fiscal assistance directly to all states.

Congress must appropriate an additional $500B specifically for all states and territories to meet the states’ budgetary shortfalls that have resulted from this unprecedented public health crisis, separate from much needed fiscal stabilization for local governments.

In the absence of this federal support, states will have to confront the prospect of significant reductions to critically important services all across this country, hampering public health, the economic recovery, and—in turn—our collective effort to get people back to work.