Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has a message for states who want federal assistance to help them meet their budget shortfalls in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The message? Drop dead.

Just a day after the Senate approved an additional $484 billion to help small businesses and local hospitals, McConnell remarked that he wasn’t in favor of bailing out stand and local governments and suggested to radio host Hugh Hewitt that states facing high debt loads file for bankruptcy.

CNN reports that McConnell told Hewitt:

“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”

McConnell’s comments were quickly met with harsh pushback from members of his own party, with Rep. Peter King (R-NY) noting:

“To say that it is ‘free money’ to provide funds for cops, firefighters and healthcare workers makes McConnell the Marie Antoinette of the Senate.”

While he was at it, McConnell also tried to immunize himself and his party from the blame they will be facing as November’s election draws closer:

“The Democrats, of course, will be on the attack against the President saying you should have done this, or you should have done that. I do think the coronavirus has completely redefined the landscape of the fall elections. We’ve all been working hard. We’ve been able, for the most part, to govern on a bipartisan basis so far. I would look for that to break down as the campaigns heat up and the finger pointing begins.”

A few hours later on Fox News, McConnell reiterated his hard line stance on helping states with federal funds:

“We are not interested in rescuing them from bad decisions they’ve made in the past. We’re not going to let them take advantage of this pandemic to let them solve problems they created for themselves.”

Since Sen. McConnell doesn’t believe in bailing out the states, here’s a suggestion: How about he have his home state of Kentucky return all of the federal money they’ve received since during the past year?

Featured Image Via Fox News