Governor John Bel Edwards has provided his input on how one-point-six billion dollars in federal coronavirus aid should be spent. Edwards says 400-million dollars should go towards refilling the unemployment trust fund, which is bankrupt, and the only other way to re-fill it is by taxing businesses
“I don’t believe it’s ever a good thing to have a tax increase when you’re trying to grow your economy come out of a pandemic”, Edwards said.
Edwards other 230-million dollars would go toward repaying loans from the federal government to pay jobless claims after the Unemployment Trust Fund went bankrupt. The governor says he’s also proposing to use 400-million dollars to pay for road and bridge construction.
“Creating and sustaining jobs across the state and chipping away at our 14-billion dollar infrastructure backlog that continued to grow while funding has lagged,” Edwards said.
The governor is also proposing the state legislature spend 300-million dollars on improving water and sewer systems. He says 125-million will go towards Tourism and Convention and Vistors Bureaus and 20-million dollars for the Tourism Department.
“This is incredibly important for jumpstarting our economy and getting more customers into our businesses,” Edwards said.
All of this money comes from the American Rescue Plan approved by Congress earlier this year.