By Casey Harper (The Heart Sq.)
Increasingly federally funded, controversial initiatives that got here as a part of pandemic-relief spending handed by Congress are coming to gentle, and few of them don’t have something to do with COVID-19.
Residents Towards Authorities Waste launched its annual breakdown of the final 12 months’s “nightmarish” federal spending in honor of Halloween. The report highlights a number of taxpayer-funded initiatives, a lot of them coming from the trillions in “COVID aid” handed by means of three congressional spending payments.
The price range watchdog group blasted Hawaii, which reportedly doled out $1 million in taxpayer funds for a “sea urchin hatchery” in addition to $300,000 for “an engineering evaluation of the now-condemned Aloha Stadium.”
In September of final 12 months, the McAllen Unbiased Faculty District in Texas accredited a deal to spend $4 million in these federal funds for an city chook sanctuary.
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The report additionally names Iowa, which spent $12.5 million of the funds to construct a baseball stadium on the well-known “Subject of Desires” website to encourage tourism.
“The myriad situations of state and native governments misusing COVID aid funds with a plethora of funds for putrid initiatives exhibits how lawmakers have pulled the final word trick on taxpayers,” the group stated in its report.
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In the meantime, specialists estimate that lots of of billions of {dollars} of COVID-19 aid funding was improperly paid out and misplaced to fraud.
The Division of Labor’s inspector basic estimated final month greater than 10% of unemployment funds have been improperly handed out, which might be over $85 billion in COVID-19 aid unemployment funds alone.
These COVID-era spending initiatives spiked the deficit to $3.1 trillion in fiscal 12 months 2020 and $2.8 trillion for fiscal 12 months 2021. The deficit fell to $1.4 trillion for fiscal 12 months 2022, however that determine continues to be roughly 50% increased than the deficit was in 2019, earlier than the pandemic-era spending.
The spending initiatives highlighted on this report come as different extra politicized COVID-relief spending efforts sparked controversy.
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As The Heart Sq. beforehand reported, main Home Republicans raised main issues over lots of of billions of {dollars} of “ESSER funding” that have been directed to assist faculties recuperate from the pandemic, a few of which was spent advancing LGBT points, “fairness warriors” and extra.
Home Committee on Oversight and Reform Rating Member Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and Committee on Training and Labor Rating Member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., despatched a letter to Training Secretary Miguel Cardona blasting this use of taxpayer {dollars}.
“For instance, California used ESSER funds for coaching in ‘environmental literacy,’ ‘ethnic research,’ and ‘LGBTQ+ cultural competency,’” the letter stated. “New York used a part of the $9 billion it obtained to supply workers growth on ‘culturally responsive sustaining instruction’ and ‘privilege’ and to acknowledge ‘fairness warriors.’ Illinois obtained $5.1 billion, which it partially used to emphasise ‘fairness and variety’ and make ‘fairness pushed investments.’ Not less than ten different state plans included proposals to make use of the ESSER funds to implement racially biased curriculum and applications based mostly on important race concept.”
Syndicated with permission from The Heart Sq..
