The Covid Bailout of State and Local Governments Was Unnecessary

October 13, 2023

Well over half of those funds remain unspent, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

by Eric Boehm Reason.com

Two years after Congress authorized a hugely expensive bailout of state and local governments as part of a COVID-era emergency spending bill, most of the money still hadn’t been spent.

Perhaps the bailout wasn’t even needed in the first place?

In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that states (including Washington, D.C.) had spent just 45 percent of the funding they had received through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, a $350 billion line item within the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which passed in March 2021. Local governments had reported spending just 38 percent of their funds received through the same program.