Cuomo: Members of NY congressional delegation will introduce 'Americans First Law' to stop corporate bailouts

First proposed by governor, legislation states a corporation cannot be eligible for government funding if it does not rehire same number of employees it had before COVID-19 pandemic

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday announced members of New York's congressional delegation – Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Thomas Suozzi, Carolyn Maloney, Hakeem Jeffries, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Eliot Engel, Paul Tonko, José Serrano, Joe Morelle, Adriano Espaillat and Yvette Clarke – will propose the “Americans First Law” to help prevent corporate bailouts following the COVID-19 pandemic. First proposed by the governor on May 10, the proposed law states a corporation cannot be eligible to receive government funding if it doesn't maintain the same number of employees that the corporation had before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor also issued a joint statement with National Governors Association Chairman and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan renewing the bipartisan call from the National Governors Association for unrestricted fiscal support for states in the next federal COVID-19 relief bill. They said the next bill should focus on funding state and local governments, working families, state testing and tracing efforts, part of a “real economic stimulus with no handouts to corporations who do not protect their workers and only enrich executives or shareholders.”

"This virus has taken a toll on all of us, but it has especially hurt working Americans and our frontline workers – they are the ones who really need the financial help, not big businesses," Cuomo said. "I have spoken with a number of members of New York's congressional delegation and they have agreed to propose the ‘Americans First Law’ to stop bailouts of greedy corporations that are not protecting and rehiring their employees once they open back up."