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LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Touting Nebraska’s progress in economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Pete Ricketts sent a response to the US Treasury Department on Friday explaining why the state was refusing the second round of rental assistance emergency.
“Nebraska’s economy is doing well,” Ricketts said in the letter, noting cash reserves, low unemployment, Politico’s recent accolade for the state’s response to COVID-19, as well as a similar nod from the National Bureau for Economic Research. “…our men and women have jobs and our children are taken care of…Part of this is due to responsible government (state) spending.”
Ricketts vetoed the Unicameral Request for Nebraska’s request for ERAP funds twice.
The governor said he didn’t feel compelled to seek the second round because he hadn’t received any data from “housing advocates” indicating the help was needed.
“For months, I have invited these groups to provide me with any data showing that there remains a pandemic-related need for these funds,” he said in the letter.
Ricketts also took the opportunity to criticize the Biden administration’s stimulus package, pointing to current inflation levels, and said that was all the more reason for Nebraska not to accept the funds.
“Flooding the economy with nearly two trillion dollars in stimulus money and making people rely on the government not only exacerbates the problems we face as a nation. It would be irresponsible of me as governor to take federal dollars that we don’t need and add to this growing problem,” he said in the letter.
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