At the end of his statewide press conference on Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was asked about Republican Senator Mitch McConnell's suggestion that struggling states ought to declare bankruptcy (which is not possible under current law) instead of continuing to accept aid from the federal government.
McConnell's comments on Wednesday drew criticism from Republican and Democratic state leaders. Gov. Newsom added his voice to the chorus.
"On behalf of tens of thousands of men and women in uniform, our police officers, our firefighters, our sheriffs ... the folks quite literally saving lives - his comments were offensive," said Newsom. "States are laboratories of democracy, cities are labs of innovation. If you care about democracy, if you care about innovation. If you are about states, you care about cities. I hope and expect that he’ll take back his comments."
--Julia Scott (@juliascribe)