Representative Michael Saba (D-9/Hartford) is warning that Governor Kristi Noem may not be properly spending the big money Uncle Sam has sent us to fight the coronavirus:
“It’s like money has come in, and the governor is going to use it for this, this and this. Even in appropriations, we’re only getting what’s happened, not what can happen,” he said of the millions of dollars in coronavirus relief aid the state has received.
Regarding the $1.25 billion the state received for coronavirus response from the stimulus bill through Congress, Saba said he thinks it should go to hospital systems to help patients pay for testing so residents aren’t charged for them.
“Why is it that when we had $1.25 billion in the state, (Gov. Noem) was complaining that she would like to see that money used for the sales tax deficit? That’s not what it’s there for. It’s for protecting the public,” he said.
“Think of poor people and the workers at Smithfield. They’re out of jobs, and if they want to get tested, they have to pay $100. I don’t think that’s fair,” he added [Morgan Matzen, “Democratic Legislator Expresses Concern with State’s Testing Plan,” Rapid City Journal, 2020.05.01].
I mentioned Wednesday that Noem’s desire to divert coronavirus dollars to her own fiscal priorities smells a lot like Mike Rounds’s sabotage of the Obama stimulus, in which Rounds used money that should have gone toward additional spending on roads and bridges and other economy-boosting activity to simply paper over his reckless spending. Now Kristi Noem, a governor who has shown her willingness to divert tax dollars to family salaries and vanity projects, is angling to divert funds that could be used to answer Rep. Saba’s call for universal coronavirus testing and to support other effective pandemic-management measures.
Saba says he may call for a Special Session to give the Legislature a chance to weigh in on dealing with the pandemic.
I’m sure Kruel Kristi is diverting millions of dollars to places they should not go. She, like her Demented Daddy and other Greedy GOP, simply do not care about helping those in need when there is nothing in it for them.
Gov Noem instructed her SD Dept. Labor to deny unemployment to anyone who refuses to go back to work among the frenzy to re-open without regard for the health of workers and their families. Ironically she is shooting herself in the foot, the $600 weekly stimulus was designed to inject monies into the economy quickly, aimed at those financially damaged by a loss of income, and the sales tax that could have been generated by this influx would have solved her budget dilemma in short order. But since its not another multi-million dollar government giveaway for her ranching family she put the brakes on in short order.
Slackards need to get to work. Wear a face doily if you must, but get to work.
Slackards? Face doily? Disrespectful. No class. Small person.
Curious…..A democratic representative from right next to Sioux Falls doesn’t get his concerns printed up till its done by a paper clear on the other side of the state. The Argus Liar and the rest of the press in Soo Foo doesn’t think this news worthy?
Abbott Labratories has a 5 minute test for covid19. Now trump and company decide where to send the test kits. As NOem got all snugly with the old tom cat and had to have one of those tests to do so, why doesn’t she get in front of the line for them here in South Dakota? That would help businesses here open and stay open to generate jobs and sales tax, why doesn’t she do this? Where is the legislature? Drunk and hanging with the lobbyists? Come out come out wherever you are.
“As Abbott Laboratories began shipping its new rapid-response tests across the country Wednesday, a new flash point emerged in the nation’s handling of the pandemic: where to deploy the covid-19 diagnostics that could be one of the most effective tools in combating the outbreak.
Some White House officials want to ship many of the tests, which were approved Friday and can deliver results in five to 13 minutes, to areas where there are fewer cases, such as rural states and parts of the South.” Washington Post 04/01/2020
Last I looked, we’uns here in South Dakota qualify as a rural state, moreover, we have 1.25 Billion with a B, dollars to spend on that stuff. We also have National Guard personnel to administer those tests. Do it!
Did NOem steal the money? Did she go into cahoots with the EB5 Guy and commission Joop to do some laundry? Where’s the money honey?
It seems clear to me that there was at least one quid quo pro involved in our governor’s negotiations with the White House for what we needed for coronavirus suppllies. “A little favor”, so to speak. The president wanted a credibility infusion on his hydroxychloroquine fixation. So guess which state’s universities suddenly has hcq studies to churn out some news supporting the prez. Whatever happened to that? As far as I know, we never got the tests we needed.