Menendez hits McConnell over promise of outsized aid for Kentucky

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-North Bergen) slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for comments the Kentucky Republican made during a debate Thursday suggesting he should be re-elected because his role as a GOP leader allowed to secure outsized aid for the Bluegrass State.

“It’s not an appropriate position to use the leadership position in the chamber because this is the United States of America, and all states should have the resources to face the challenges that they have,” Menendez told the New Jersey Globe.

Kentucky residents pay roughly a quarter of what New Jerseyans do in federal taxes despite the Garden State having only about twice as many residents.

McConnell’s home state consistently ranks as one of the most federally dependent in the nation, while New Jersey is firmly seated on the opposite end of that spectrum.

The dynamic was drawn into particularly sharp relief earlier this year after McConnell said he opposed a “blue-state bailout” meant to aid state and local governments in places like New Jersey and New York, which were hit the hardest in the early months of the COVID-19 crisis.

Then, as now, McConnell’s comments drew condemnation from Democrats.

“We’re a giver state and you’re a moocher state. You get more money than you give to the federal treasury, but they’re not the only one,” Menendez said Tuesday. “Most of the red states are moocher states. They take more and give less than they give the federal treasury. Well, that has to end, and that starts with ending in this pandemic response.”