New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to give an update on the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he proposed a new law that aims to prevent corporations from receiving excess funds as a result of COVID-19.
According to the governor, the “Americans First Law” would block corporations from receiving a government bailout unless they rehire the same number of workers they employed prior to the pandemic.
“No handouts to greedy corporations, no political pork and no partisanship,” Cuomo said. “There has to be a time in history when the federal government is willing to stop playing partisanship politics. And if it’s not through this experience, it will never be.”
How to watch Cuomo’s briefing today
The governor cited the federal bailout of major banks after the 2008 mortgage crisis as the impetus for his proposal. Banks that received taxpayer-funded bailouts from the federal government after the crash continued to award their top executives billions in salaries and bonuses.
