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McConnell’s Hometown Will Be Hit Hard Without Federal Bailout

  • Congress’s fourth rescue doesn’t offer city budget relief
  • Louisville, Kentucky, facing $115 million deficit, mayor says
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 21, 2020. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 21, 2020. 

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell panned the idea of providing federal aid for states and cities this week, it was widely seen as a dig at the lax fiscal policies of the Democrat-led coastal metropolises that have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The truth is, though, that at this point in the crisis, the finances of vast numbers of municipal governments, red and blue alike, are in dire straits all across the country. Including, it turns out, the two largest cities in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky.