A look at how States spent federal COVID aid on roads, buildings, seawalls

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Thu, 2022-09-29 18:13 — mike kraft

States spend federal COVID aid on roads, buildings, seawalls Standing 14 stories tall, the Docking State Office Building is one of Kansas' largest and oldest state workplaces. It's also largely vacant, despite a prime location across from the Capitol. So Kansas officials are planning to spend $60 million of federal pandemic relief funds to help finance its demolition and replace it with a slimmed-down, three-story building designed to host meetings and events. AP NEWS

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State officials categorized the project as a “public health service” in a report to the U.S. Treasury Department laying out their plans for the money. Though that may be a stretch, it’s likely fine under the American Rescue Plan act — a sweeping law signed by President Joe Biden last year that provides broad flexibility for $350 billion of aid to states and local governments.

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Relatively little of the federal aid has gone toward traditional public health purposes, according to an Associated Press review of reports filed by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Significantly more has gone toward public infrastructure. States are pouring money into water, sewer and high-speed internet projects, as specifically envisioned by the law. But the AP found that they’re also spending billions of dollars on roads, bridges, sidewalks, airports, rail lines and buildings at college campuses and government agencies — justifying all of it under the federal government’s generous flexibility.

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