You really shouldn’t fight in front of the children. It only makes them upset.

Unfortunately, some intraparty sniping has broken out over the issue of federal aid to the states in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The most recent flareup came between New York Congressman Pete King and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Cocaine Mitch has recently been voicing some reservations about continuing to flush money we don’t have down to the states, most of whom are bleeding cash fighting the virus while seeing massive losses in revenue because so many people are out of work. McConnell’s suggestion that some of the states seek bankruptcy protection led King to describe him as “the Marie Antoinette of the Senate.” (NY Post)

Long Island GOP Rep. Pete King on Wednesday ripped Mitch McConnell as the “Marie Antoinette of the Senate” after the Majority Leader suggested struggling states go bankrupt amid the coronavirus crisis.

King was reacting to McConnell’s comments on a radio talk show earlier in the day where the senator dismissed the idea of more federal aid to states, claiming governors “would love to have free money.”

“McConnell’s dismissive remark that States devastated by Coronavirus should go bankrupt rather than get the federal assistance they need and deserve is shameful and indefensible,” King wrote on Twitter.

…cops, firefighters and healthcare workers makes McConnell the Marie Antoinette of the Senate.

— Pete King (@RepPeteKing) April 23, 2020

It’s understandable that Pete King would be a bit put off since he represents a downstate district in New York, one of the areas that’s been hardest hit by the virus and part of a state that has run up massive bills in dealing with it. The Governor has already announced that there will be budget cuts of up to 20% in the coming fiscal year without significant federal aid, impacting schools and a host of New York politicians’ favorite pet projects.

But with that said, this is a bit of an overreaction on a couple of levels. First, McConnell wasn’t sneering or laughing at the problems facing the states. It wasn’t some sort of dismissive “let them eat cake” moment. So the comparison to Marie Antoinette was a bit over the top.

Also, Midnight Mitch was only stating a couple of harsh realities. The federal government is already digging a fiscal hole that it’s never going to climb out of in providing aid to the states. This can’t go on forever. And his second point about state government pension programs may sound a bit harsh, but it’s also absolutely true. Quite a few states were struggling to meet all of the pension obligations that took on to meet the demands of state workers’ unions for many years before the coronavirus rolled into town.

New York is one of those states, as is New Jersey. McConnell’s comments about the states wanting “free money” may have been a bit on the harsh side under these conditions, but it’s also pretty much on the nose. As the federal government continues to bail out states that failed to set money aside for a rainy day, it may salvage their budget outlook in the short run, but the residents of those states are still on the hook. Washington will, as McConnell put it, be borrowing money we don’t have from future generations and everyone, not just New Yorkers, will be carrying that debt for as long as our government is held together.