Republican El Paso mayor says city needs more federal funding for pandemic

El Paso, Texas, Mayor Dee Margo (R) said in a new interview that his city needs more federal funding for the coronavirus pandemic. 

Margo told Business Insider that he’s been walking a “tight wire” between keeping residents safe and ensuring that businesses can remain open. A quarter of the city’s small businesses have shut down since March, he noted.

Margo said that the city continues to need more help as it struggles with the pandemic’s impact. 

“If you had the financial support that we had at the beginning … then yeah, that’s fine,” Margo said. “People can still put food on the table and they still can pay their rent and the businesses can get by. But without that, then it’s a morality play. And that bothers me.” 

The mayor, who was an early proponent of wearing masks, has been hesitant to close down businesses. 

“I recognize that there are physical deaths as a result of this pandemic, and physical hurt with families and others,” he said. “But there also are financial deaths that are occurring.”

“We need more help,” Margo added. “We continue to need more help.” 

Negotiations over the next round of possibly trillions of dollars in coronavirus relief have stalled for the past few months. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have taken the lead in negotiations, but have not yet come to an agreement. 

Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to have a more direct role in the next round of talks. He said on Tuesday that Congress needs to pass a “highly targeted deal” similar to the $500 billion GOP proposal that was blocked earlier this year. 

“I don’t think the current situation demands a multitrillion-dollar package. So I think it should be highly targeted, very similar to what I put on the floor both in October and September,” McConnell told reporters.

More than 29,000 people in El Paso currently have the virus, the city reported Wednesday, and just over 1,000 people have been hospitalized. Nearly 700 people have died in the city over the course of the pandemic.

14 deaths, 863 new COVID-19 cases and 970 delayed test results by the State are being reported today for a cumulative total of 67,484 cases, 29,118 active cases, and 696 deaths.

For more information and other data visit https://t.co/ZQYzXo4SuR pic.twitter.com/zsoWogkzgt

— City of El Paso (@ElPasoTXGov) November 11, 2020

Texas was the first state to hit 1 million total coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, and health officials have long warned that cases would surge in the coming months as more people are forced inside.