The Senate is scheduled to vote on a disapproval resolution Wednesday aimed at the Treasury Department's redefining of the original intention of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) and the misuse of the recovery money, according to Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who led a group of senators introducing the resolution earlier this year.
"Treating taxpayer money allocated for COVID relief as a slush fund for pet projects by Biden’s Treasury is emblematic of Washington's addiction to wasteful spending," the Missouri Republican said in a statement to Newsmax. "Redefining a rule to allow for wasteful expenditures unrelated to COVID recovery will not only cost American families an extra $1,200 per year but perpetuate inflationary policies that have hurt working Americans."
Schmitt was joined in the resolution by GOP Sens. Roger Marshall, Kansas; Tom Cotton, Arkansas; Mike Braun, Indiana; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; Rick Scott, Florida; Bill Hagerty, Tennessee; Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming; Ted Budd, North Carolina; Mike Lee, Utah; Pete Ricketts, Nebraska; Ron Johnson, Wisconsin; and Joni Ernst, Iowa.
Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, introduced an identical resolution in the House, Schmitt said.
The COVID relief fund program received $350 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, with the money designated to help state and local governments with economic recovery related to the pandemic.
In the original rules, Treasury had established that a recipient can get money from the fund if the costs occurred by Dec. 31, 2024, when the funding will end.
But the new rule has changed the designation to allow states and localities to spend the money past the end of this year, as long as they report ideas for the spending in the next few months.
Schmitt called the extension perplexing, considering the Biden administration declared the end of the federal Public Health Emergency for the pandemic was over on May 11, 2023.