WASHINGTON
Kansas and Missouri are set to receive billions in federal aid from President Joe Biden’s stimulus bill, but most of the region’s lawmakers are likely to oppose it even as local leaders plead for federal help.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Friday approved language that would steer $350 billion to state and local governments as part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.
The aid is intended to help state and local governments cope with budget crises they’ve experienced since last year after the COVID-19 pandemic caused tax revenues to plummet. The legislation is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House in the near future.
Rep. Jake LaTurner, a freshman Kansas Republican who voted against the language in the committee, issued a blistering statement Saturday decrying the bill as a “liberal state bailout,” a phrasing that echoes a popular cable news talking point.
“As a result of this horribly misguided action, Kansas taxpayers will be forced to bail out liberal states who severely mismanaged their own budgets even before the pandemic began — this is deeply wrong,” said LaTurner, a former Kansas treasurer.
But the Republican framing of the aid as a bailout for blue states obscures that red states will also receive a significant portion of that $350 billion. The allocations are based on the populations of the states, counties and cities.
Kansas stands to receive roughly $1.6 billion in state aid and nearly $1.2 billion in local aid, including $43 million for Topeka, the biggest city in LaTurner’s district, according to preliminary congressional estimates.
“Make no mistake, any dollar that comes into the city will be put into action,” said Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla, a Democrat who was LaTurner’s opponent in the November election.
De La Isla said Topeka would primarily steer the funds to anti-poverty and COVID mitigation programs.
Wichita, the state’s biggest city, would receive $68 million. Kansas City, Kansas, would take in $53 million and Overland Park would receive $18 million with millions more spread around the state’s smaller municipalities.
LaTurner’s office confirmed he opposes the proposed aid to Kansas in addition to blue states, but the office did not immediately answer what the congressman thinks state or local leaders should do to cover revenue losses if additional federal aid is not provided.
Missouri, which has a larger population than Kansas, will have an even bigger payday in Biden’s plan with $2.8 billion in state aid and $2.5 billion in local aid, according to the estimates.
That includes roughly $181 million for Kansas City at a time when the city desperately needs it in the face of a $70 million budget shortfall.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas last week blamed the city’s budget hole on congressional inaction on federal aid as he proposed a $12 million cut to the city’s police department.
“It has everything to do with the fact that there has not been revenue support,” Lucas said last week.
Lucas has been outspoken in his calls for federal aid, but Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office said in a statement Tuesday that additional federal funds would be unnecessary for the state.
“We’ve made hard decisions in order to ensure the viability of the state’s budget going forward and will be able to balance our budget without any enhanced funding,” said Kelli Jones, the governor’s spokeswoman.
Parson cut millions from the state’s education budget last year to offset revenue losses.
LaTurner pointed to the fact that not all of the COVID-19 aid to states and local governments appropriated last year has been spent. The Kansas congressman signed onto a resolution from Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, that would require Biden’s administration to provide an accounting of unspent funds from last year’s stimulus.
But last year’s aid came with strict rules that prohibited states and cities from using it to cover revenue losses.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has been asking the state’s congressional delegation since last year to support flexible aid as Kansas has had to cut state agencies and spend down its cash reserves during the pandemic.
“My administration will continue to urge the federal government to both increase the number of vaccines we receive and push a stimulus package through Congress, so that Kansas can rebound from the pandemic and continue down the road to recovery,” Kelly said last week.
But so far, only Rep. Sharice Davids, the delegation’s lone Democrat, has publicly supported the state and local aid proposals.
Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Great Bend, has previously said he’d support making the already appropriated aid flexible. But he’s repeatedly expressed concerns about the price tag of additional relief packages and has attacked Biden’s plan.
“Leader Schumer said, ‘It makes no sense to pinch pennies’ when it comes to the $1.9 trillion COVID package dems are proposing. When we are talking 190 TRILLION PENNIES, yes it does make sense. We have a natl debt of $27 trillion+ the burden which will fall on future generations,” Marshall said on Twitter earlier this month.
Sen. Jerry Moran was among 10 Republicans who pitched Biden on a $600 billion alternative plan, which notably omitted the state and local aid provisions that Democrats have wanted since last year.
Biden rejected the GOP proposal and congressional Democrats have moved forward with their plan to pass the president’s plan through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to avoid the 60 vote requirement the Senate sets for most legislation and instead pass the package with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote even if every Republican votes no.
Last year’s relief bill set a strangely high population threshold of 500,000 for cities to receive direct federal aid. Kansas City — with a population 8,000 short of the requirement — faced a series of bureaucratic hurdles as it was forced to plead with the state and counties to share aid, a process which remains ongoing.
Biden’s plan provides $45 billion for municipalities of 50,000 or more and sets aside another $19 billion for cities under that threshold, which ensures Kansas City and surrounding towns won’t face the same hurdles in accessing aid.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri’s senior Democrat, called the aid to states and cities long overdue. In addition to the money headed to Kansas City, he touted the millions that would come to surrounding towns, including $19 million for Independence and $9 million for Lee’s Summit.
“Since last March, we’ve seen states and cities across the nation lay off over 1.3 million essential government workers and cut critical services for the American people due to the COVID-19 crisis,” Cleaver said in a statement.
“As states and municipalities see their budgets shrink due to lost revenue, it means fewer first responders and police officers who are there to answer the call during an emergency; fewer teachers who are able to educate and care for students; and fewer government workers who can process and administer critical services for families in need.”
The Star’s Jeanne Kuang contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 1:36 PM.
