Billions in state and local aid from the American Rescue Plan Act have gone to combat the pandemic, but also to build monuments and fix state buildings. Republicans are increasingly questioning the need for all the funding and how it is being spent.
A year after President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act into law, states and localities have used their $350 billion share of direct aid to provide Covid-19 vaccines, give workers on the frontlines of the pandemic extra pay, and to boost local economies—as with the grants Fountain Inn, South Carolina gave businesses in its downtown to improve storefronts and put up more art.
But the massive relief package, passed by Congress along partisan lines and signed by Biden on March 11 last year, remains controversial.
The state and local aid has gone to a wide array of programs. Much of the spending has clear ties to public health and economic recovery. But not all of it on the surface seems to be related to the pandemic.
Route Fifty
By Kery Murakami
MARCH 11, 2022