Braun Calls for Millions of Misspent COVID Relief Funds to Be Repaid

Yesterday, an AP report found that funds from the “American Rescue Plan” that President Biden and Senate Democrats passed by a party line vote last year are being spent on non-COVID-related, wasteful pet projects.

The AP story, by Brian Slodysko, identified millions of “COVID aid” dollars being spent on projects such as $140 million for a “high-end hotel that will have views of the Atlantic Ocean and an 11,000-square-foot spa,” “$6.6 million to replace irrigation systems at two golf courses,” “tens of millions of dollars for tourism marketing campaigns” and many other examples.

Senator Braun is calling for these taxpayer funds to be repaid, and blasted President Biden and Democrats who passed the $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill which was full of waste and liberal pet projects rather than COVID aid. “Last year I said Biden & Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill was less than 10% related to COVID and jammed with wasteful spending and liberal pet projects. Now as you pay for record inflation at the grocery store and the gas pump, we see what your money is really being wasted on: Luxury hotels, ballparks, and ski slopes,” Senator Braun said. “I’m calling on these state and local governments spending COVID aid money on these projects to repay those taxpayer funds to the federal government so we can put it toward paying down our $30 trillion national debt.”