Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is asking the Government Accountability Office to review how states and cities spent $350 billion in coronavirus relief funds included in the American Rescue Plan Act.
Rubio's request came in a letter to GAO Comptroller Gene Dodaro dated Thursday.
"It was an unprecedented allocation of emergency federal funding to state and local entities, which many of my colleagues and I warned would become a slush fund plagued by mismanagement and abuse," Rubio wrote. "The stories of waste and abuse are piling up.
"States and localities have reportedly used the money to renovate baseball stadiums, replace golf course irrigation systems, push new local marketing campaigns to attract tourists, revamp websites, and fund construction of a luxury hotel.
"Regardless of how much flexibility some in our legislative body may have wanted to attach to these hundreds of billions of dollars, few can argue that this is what Congress had in mind."
Rubio added, "Unfortunately, recent reports have uncovered the exact kind of irresponsible actions we feared."
Rubio maintained he was asking for a full GAO review of state and local governments' use of the funds "to ensure that taxpayers benefit from full transparency and Congress can protect against further waste and abuse."
"Reports of outrageous and wasteful spending come at the same time the Biden administration demands additional funding for COVID-related programs. During a time of soaring prices, continued supply chain challenges, and other disruptions to our economy; taxpayers and lawmakers must have transparency into how this funding is being used."
Biden administration officials have said the U.S. was out of money to purchase a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone who may ultimately need one.
"Right now, we don't have enough money for fourth doses, if they're called for," White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said, according to The Washington Post. "We don't have the funding if we were to need a variant-specific vaccine in the future."
While the administration has secured enough doses to give a fourth shot to Americans over age 65, and an initial treatment for children aged 5 and under, there is not enough money left in the federal coffers to buy more for the rest of the country, if needed, officials said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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