Senate Republicans led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will not include aid to states and local governments in their opening stimulus package bid of $1 trillion dollars. 

In response to the news, Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to direct his comments to Trump supporter and North Country Representative Elise Stefanik.

“I’ve told Republicans in our state, let them lead by example," Cuomo said. "Let the Republican Congress people stand up and say, ‘you know what? You can’t tell the people of my district to go to heck. You can’t tell the North Country we’re not giving you any local aid.’”

Cuomo challenged all congressional Republicans from New York to make state and local aid front and center. 

“Where have the Republican congresspeople been?” he asked rhetorically.  “These little tweets, ‘I think there should be state and local aid’. Stand up. Grab the microphone, say full throated, ‘Mitch McConnell, you did the wrong thing by the people of New York in my district.’ ”

The governor again enlisted the argument that many Republican states receive more money from the federal government than Democratic states, which pay more into federal government coffers. 

“We know that the Senate Republicans don’t want to help the states, because they think the states that primarily have the most COVID cases are Democratic states. That’s true,” said Cuomo. “I think that’s hypocritical, because as I’ve said, they don’t have trouble taking money from Democratic states.”

“Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul are federal ‘bag men,’ to use a different expression. They take more federal money for their state than they put in,” he said. “They’ve been taking New Yorkers’ money for years, putting it in a bag in Washington, and bringing it home to their state.”

“Now New York needs help," Cuomo stated. “It’s total hypocrisy. But it’s also terrible for the economy.”

In other news to come out of the conference call, Cuomo reported that far more bars and restaurants in New York City are out of compliance with capacity laws than those in upstate New York.

“The state will be doing everything it can with the most aggressive enforcement mechanisms,” said Cuomo. “Last night, 27 establishments were issued violations. Saturday, we had 53; Friday, we had 52.

“We are seeing greater efforts by local governments outside of New York City and that’s why we are focusing on New York City. We do not have the level of non-compliance in upstate New York.”

Establishments that repeatedly run afoul of the capacity laws could have their liquor license suspended. According to the governor, 40 establishments have had their licenses suspended for violating capacity, 10 since Friday.