Biden hits Trump for shortchanging states on National Guard costs
Joe Biden took President Donald Trump to task on Friday for cutting back federal funding for National Guard coronavirus relief efforts in most states, and only fully supporting the troop deployments in a small number of states.
"At a time when the states are suffering dramatic revenue losses as a result of Trump's catastrophic COVID-19 response, this is no time to place new fiscal burdens onto the states by reducing federal funding for the National Guard," the former vice president and presumptive presidential nominee said in a statement to POLITICO, in his first public comments on the controversy.
Trump on Friday directed the federal government to continue covering all the costs of National Guard relief efforts in Arizona, California and Connecticut though Sept. 30. Earlier this week, however, he directed that Texas and Florida will be fully covered through the end of the year, while announcing that all other states and territories will have to begin kicking in 25 percent later this month.
The new directives do not explain why the three states were selected, or why the extension is set to terminate earlier than Texas and Florida's.
An estimated 25,000 Guard troops are deployed nationwide in the coronavirus response, running testing sites, conducting contact tracing and building hospitals.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-hits-trump-for-shortchanging-states-on-national-guard-costs/ar-BB17H3Dm?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP
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