Democrats across the U.S. are using the proceeds of the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to pay for things not intended.
Does Pittsburgh plan to employ the $331,750 armored SWAT vehicle paid for by ARPA funds to attack COVID-19? Will New York City’s $21.6 million for “restorative justice” programming in city schools reduce coronavirus cases in schools? These, and many other governmental purchases are being paid for with ARPA money President Joe Biden pledged would only be used for COVID-19 purposes.
Fox News further reported:
The $1.9 trillion bill was framed as an emergency measure to help the United States dig out of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences.
But much money is going toward projects that are seemingly unrelated or barely related to the virus or the recovery from the pandemic. Technically, many such projects are permitted. But it is not how the package was sold.
“For over a year, the American people were told they were on their own. We’ve seen how hard that has been on so many Americans,” Biden said at a White House appearance celebrating Senate passage of the bill in March 2021. “Everything in this package is designed to relieve the suffering and to meet the most urgent needs of the nation and put us in a better position to prevail, starting with beating this virus and vaccinating the country.”
And at a White House signing ceremony six days later, Biden promised: “It’s going to require fastidious oversight to make sure there’s no waste or fraud, and the law does what it’s designed to do. And I mean it: We have to get this right.”
And yet, not only is money being spent on seemingly unrelated priorities, a significant portion of the funding for local and state governments and school districts isn’t even spent yet.
“Washington allocated $350 billion to state and local governments to close budget deficits that did not even exist,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Brian Riedl told Fox News Digital. “These states are totally awash in more money than they know what to do with, so it’s no surprise they haven’t allocated yet – they’re going to be sitting on this money for years.”
“Of course, the standards are going to fall and they’re going to look for any excuse to spend the money, no matter how wasteful,” Riedl said.
There are no reports yet documenting sanctuary cities using the ARPA funds to house, feed and clothe illegal aliens bussed North by Texas and Arizona.
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