Five years after the coronavirus pandemic struck — and two years after the government declared the emergency over — states are still awash in cash that Congress doled out.
Now Sen. Joni Ernst, one of Congress’ top waste watchers, wants to claw back $65 billion before any of it can go down the drain.
She pointed to some of the outrageous expenses federal taxpayers footed the bill for, including massage chairs for teachers, golf carts and Apple watches. One California community even bought an ice cream truck to deliver treats to kids.
And a New Hampshire community used $500 of federal COVID grant money to hire drag performers for a public school show, $800 to pay for “pride” month T-shirts and $500 for what the city called “pride decorations” and “swag.”
“The COVID cash bonanza was a $4.5 trillion all-you-can-eat buffet of waste, fraud and abuse, with the cost eaten by taxpayers,” said Ms. Ernst, Iowa Republican. “While too much money has already been sent out the door, we have a chance to return the remaining $65 billion to the American people.”
The Government Accountability Office says that total includes $41.9 billion that was allocated but went unobligated and has now expired, plus $23.6 billion unobligated and not expired.
GAO said the money, while helpful in bolstering the economy, proved susceptible to fraud to the tune of “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Ms. Ernst said it’s time to reclaim unspent funds.
“At $38 trillion in debt, the federal government shouldn’t have secret slush funds or be spending them on golf carts, bowling parties and high school drag shows,” she said.
The pandemic struck in early 2020 and by that spring, spawned stay-at-home orders and a general economic retrenchment.
Congress allocated a massive chunk of cash to keep businesses afloat, keep workers on payroll and pay enhanced unemployment benefits for those who ended up out of jobs.
A year later, in 2021, with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, they passed another stimulus bill that included a massive pool of money for state and local governments. That legislation included the extra Obamacare subsidies that Democrats want to see continued — and over which they have orchestrated the government shutdown.
President Biden declared the national health emergency from the pandemic over in the spring of 2023.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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