Cuomo: Governors, in call with Biden, asked for $500B for states, vaccine distribution plan

A Nov. 19 Zoom call with President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the nation’s governors centered around federal stimulus for states and equal distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo, chair of the National Governors Association, said during a Nov. 20 call with reporters that the bipartisan group officially asked for $500 billion in state and local funding to offset revenue losses and aggressive spending during the pandemic. The governors, he said, also voiced concerns that a federal vaccine distribution plan could disproportionately affect poor and minority communities if it primarily utilizes chains such as CVS and Walgreens.

Background: Cuomo became head of the NGA in August. He said the call with Biden and Harris was with the NGA executive team, but had previously convened a call with all of the group’s governors to decide the agenda.

What’s next: Cuomo said the conversation “went very well.” The $500 billion the governors are seeking is more than what is laid out in the revised version of the House of Representatives‘ HEROES Act.

Biden “basically supported the HEROES Act,” Cuomo said. “So that’s his political position.”