Newsom proposes billions in budget cuts, pleads for federal funding
Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren weighs in.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom's coronavirus budget slash and plea for federal funding is nothing but a "facade," Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren stated Friday.
In an interview on "Fox & Friends First" with hosts Jillian Mele and Rob Schmitt, Lahren accused the Democrat governor of trying to shift the blame to President Trump to get a "blue state bailout."
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"This is all to put the strain on the worker so that [it]...makes President Trump look bad, [and] so that Gavin can get his blue state bailout," she accused. "And again, I've been saying this for weeks: I knew exactly what was going to happen at the beginning of this coronavirus response. States like California ... will cover their tracks of years if not decades of mismanagement and pass it all off as the fault of coronavirus and the pandemic when really it's been a state that's been failing...for years."
"I'm really hoping that the president holds firm on his promise not to bail out states like California," she remarked.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2020-2021 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, May 14, 2020. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom presented a revised $203 billion budget proposal to state lawmakers Thursday, reflecting an economy and tax revenues hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool)
Lahren asserted that letting blue states suffer could only be damning politically for the president "if you don't know anything about California."
On Thursday, Newsom proposed cutting $6.1 billion from the state’s budget to alleviate the financial hit from the pandemic.
Many of the cuts come from planned expansions of safety-net programs and social services he and other Democrats sought in the upcoming budget.
For example, there will be a 10 percent pay cut for state employees, $7 billion will be taken from education spending K-12, and $1.7 billion will be taken from higher education.
Newsom is also allocating $125 million in relief for illegal immigrants, $753 million to a Chinese car company for unapproved N95 masks, and $3 million to supervise inmates released early due to the crisis.
"Let's remember that — that we're spending and the state of California is spending over $100 million a year to fund health care for illegal immigrants. Not to mention the coronavirus relief package that came at $125 million [and] will probably be increased $75 million of which is California taxpayer dollars going to fund relief for illegal immigrants," Lahren pointed out.
Lahren told the "Friends First" hosts Newsom's budget priorities were "absolutely" disheartening, citing a three-month lockdown extension that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti proved to be factually incorrect on Thursday.
Amid the pandemic, Lahren recently moved to Nashville, Tenn., from the Golden State, calling it a "bitter sweet goodbye."
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"You know, the people of California I believe are starting to wake up and we saw that with the Special Election on Tuesday..." she mused.
"I'm not saying that it's saveable, but I am saying that I do think that some Californians are waking up. They're seeing the waste. They're seeing the mismanagement. They're seeing the ongoing infringements by Gavin Newsom, Mayor Garcetti, and others," Lahren concluded.
Fox News' Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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