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During COVID, the federal government handed out trillions of dollars. American taxpayers bought massages chairs for a teachers’ lounge in Montana, spent $6.6 million on a sprinkler system at a Colorado Springs golf course, paid $2,000 for a bowling party in Connecticut, another $10 million on rodeos because of course rodeos are needed, $7,675 on a marching band and some $2,400 on “swag.” Stunningly, given the circumstances, some money wasn’t spent. And one U.S. senator says in just one part of that program, intended to help state and local governments, there was $65 billion left over. She wants it back. “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,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, confirmed. “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. 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.” Her legislative plans targets money that was part of a $350 billion allocation for state and local governments to cope with the economic fallout from COVID and all those business shutdowns. According to a report at the Washington Stand, the $350 billion went to the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, and the Economic Policy Innovation Center said the motivation there was “to replace state and local tax revenue based on the assumption that these governments would experience shortfalls like those experienced during previous recessions.” But, the organization revealed, “The reduction in state and local revenues never materialized to the extent that Congress anticipated at the time of enactment.” So various officials decided to use the money, allocated in a bill signed by Joe Biden, for other projects, and there was little to no oversight. EPIC has confirmed, “More than $185 million has been approved for projects related to golf courses (such as updating irrigation systems or buying golf carts), more than $400 million has gone to improve swimming pools, almost $80 million has gone to sports stadiums, $34 million has gone to building tennis and pickleball courts, $10 million has gone to rodeos, and one town even got $15 million to install showers and a commercial kitchen at a site to host the circus and local flea market.” Enough, said Ernst. She is going after unspent money in that allocation, as well as funds under “the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Divisions M or N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act of 2021, the CARES Act, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020.” Her bill calls for the funds to be put in the general fund of the nation’s Treasury to be used for deficit reduction.
