Manchin, D-W.Va., said 40 percent to 50 percent of the federal relief money should help the state. “The state has got to stay stable before we branch off in a lot of directions and then we sink the mother ship and then the tentacles die.” The mother ship is the state,” Justice said. “What we’ve got to do is, we’ve got to ensure first and foremost that the mother ship stays stable. The governor used an extended metaphor to describe the layers of financial need. Justice acknowledged that relief funding is also needed for counties, cities, hospitals, higher education institutions and other entities. “I am trying to keep our state from taking a blow, a cannonball to the stomach, that at the end of the day would reel this state into a very, very difficult position.” “I am trying to ensure that our state is backfilled lost dollars that we lost because of this terrible tragedy,” he said. Justice said he is also having discussions with consultants, specifically mentioning BDO, which is an international accounting and tax advisory network, “or whoever it may be.” Justice said each day or every other day, he meets with state revenue officials. “I really believe that we’re going to learn real live rules that we can act on a little bit prior to there and very much after that,” he said. He said that guidance may come as Congress reconvenes. This past week, Justice several times publicly discussed the need for additional federal guidance about how the money may be used. Instead, the treasury department concluded, funds may be used only for direct expenses for coronavirus response or “second-order effects of the emergency, such as by providing economic support to those suffering from employment or business interruptions.” “Funds may not be used to fill shortfalls in government revenue to cover expenditures that would not otherwise qualify under the statute,” wrote the treasury department. Department of Treasury last month interpreted it to be only for the direct expenses of coronavirus response or secondary expenses of supporting businesses and individual suffering economic effects of the response. The federal CARES Act provided $150 billion to the states, but the U.S. Officials last week announced that collections for April had come in $192 million under projections. State revenue leaders have described a possible $500 million budget hole by the end of the fiscal year, much of it caused by delaying income tax deadlines. Since then, the Republican governor has repeatedly described a desire to use the money to backfill state revenue lost to decreased economic activity that has resulted from coronavirus response. “We need the flexibility to put this money where it’s needed most to help us rebuild stronger than ever.” “I have asked the President to give us, as a State, as well as our counties and cities, more flexibility with how we can use this money to reopen and rebuild,” Justice stated then. State officials described two draw-downs of $625 million each.
West Virginia started receiving millions of dollars in federal relief on April 16.
“It’s impossible to answer that question from the standpoint of all the different things because we’d be here for hours in order to try to adequately answer the question,” Justice said during a Thursday briefing. Jim Justice this past week said it’s not so simple.
“To be honest with you, I’m a little bit embarrassed that we’re still sitting on $1.25 billion, waiting to get the go-ahead to use it to fill state budget holes.” “It is time for the state of West Virginia to put that money out into communities all across the state,” Manchin said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.” Senator Joe Manchin says he can’t figure out why West Virginia’s state government isn’t going ahead and spending $1.25 billion in relief funds from the federal government.
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