COVID shutdowns have created an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic situation for government services and school funding, as well as for the families, businesses, and organizations that rely on them. EveryLibrary joins dozens of national organizations in calling on Congress and the Administration to provide flexible fiscal aid to states and municipalities to backfill the revenue losses from the COVID shutdowns.
The National Association of State Budget Officers is projecting as much as a 20% drop in tax revenue. By contrast, the historic peak revenue lost during the Great Recession was 11.6%. COVID shutdowns have created an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic situation for government services as well as the families, businesses, and organizations that rely on them. From infrastructure to health and safety to education, without relief from Congress and the President, states and municipalities must go beyond eliminating discretionary programs to make drastic cuts to essential services. Public libraries, state libraries and systems, school libraries, and academic libraries will be dramatically and negatively impacted in this crisis.
In order to stabilize funding for libraries and ensure they have the resources they need to serve their communities and campuses, EveryLibrary is calling on Congress to allocate significant federal aid for local and state governments in the next disaster relief bill. Please join us and send an email to Congress that we need more aid and funding for our communities to recover and thrive. Robust and direct stimulus funding is needed from the federal government for state and local governments to both rebuild the economy and maintain essential services in education, health care, emergency operations, and libraries.