{"id":8318,"date":"2022-07-09T19:34:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8318"},"modified":"2022-07-09T19:34:02","modified_gmt":"2022-07-09T19:34:02","slug":"government-employees-got-872-million-in-bonuses-out-of-covid-aid-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=8318","title":{"rendered":"Government Employees Got $872 Million in Bonuses Out of COVID Aid Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The widespread use of COVID relief funds to line the wallets of public employees should also raise even more questions<\/a> about whether a federal bailout<\/a> of state and local governments was necessary. Expected revenue shortfalls in state and local tax coffers never materialized<\/a>\u2014and many states emerged from the pandemic with surpluses instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States have until the end of 2024 to spend the federal aid distributed as part of the American Rescue Plan, so the totals reported so far (the Treasury’s tracker<\/a> has been updated to include spending through December 31 of last year) could increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an analysis of the spending published last month, the Treasury notes that state and local governments spent $5 billion of their federal COVID aid on “worker support,” a category that includes those bonuses along with things like unemployment payments and job training. That’s the same amount of money that states and local governments reported using for actual COVID relief<\/em>\u2014a category that includes “vaccinations, testing, contact tracing, PPE, prevention in congregate facilities, medical expenses, and other public health measures.””<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Government Employees Got $872 Million in Bonuses Out of COVID Aid Cash<\/a><\/blockquote>