WASHINGTON – At the weekly Republican leadership press conference Tuesday, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS), pressed for details on how the Biden administration has spent funds from Democrats’ partisan $1.9 trillion spending bill passed last year. Blunt called for unspent funding from that bill to be used for current COVID-19-related priorities.
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Following Are Blunt’s Remarks:
“One year ago, the Congress passed, actually the Democrats passed since no Republicans voted for it, the American Rescue Plan. An amount of money equal to all the discretionary spending you do in a normal year. So, essentially, we doubled down the discretionary dollars on the table.
“A lot of that just money sent directly to Americans at the tune of about $2,000 a person and say, ‘spend this.’ Well, they did. Larry Summers said what would happen if they did and we have inflation and the problems people are dealing with. Some of that money was actually for things that related to COVID – tests, vaccines, testing – all that money’s gone.
“Some of it was used to deal with problems at the border, but most of it was used for the purpose. What we’d like to know is what happened to the other money? And how much of it is still left? And is there enough of it still left to pay to recharge the accounts that really related to COVID and people’s health expenses?
“So, again, my advice to the administration is be totally transparent with where that $1.9 trillion went. Let’s see what’s left and let’s see if we couldn’t find out of what’s left some money to fully pay for whatever the administration would like to do next to add to the accounts that I personally believe need to be added to, but I don’t think we need to do it as an emergency.