Crapo, Risch, colleagues press White House for accounting of trillions in COVID-19 spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KIFI) - US Senators for Idaho, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, along with Utah Senator Mitt Romney and 33 other Republican lawmakers in Washington sent a letter to President Bden asking for a thorough accounting of how nearly $6 trillion in COVID-19 relief money has been spent.
This comes after the president said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night he was going to ask Congress for $30 billion more for the nation's COVID-19 response.
“Recent news reports indicate the Administration is poised to request an additional $30 billion from Congress for its response to COVID-19,” the senators wrote. “While we have supported historic, bipartisan measures in the United States Senate to provide unprecedented investments in vaccines, therapeutics, and testing, it is not yet clear why additional funding is needed.”
“…Since passage of the American Rescue Plan in February, questions are mounting about where exactly the additional money has gone,” the senators continued. “A recent investigative report from the Washington Post headlined, ‘Immense fraud creates immense task for Washington as it tries to tighten scrutiny of $6 trillion in emergency coronavirus spending’ details the federal government’s shocking failure to provide the American public with a faithful accounting of how it has spent its money.”
“…Congress must receive a full accounting of how the government has already spent the first $6 trillion,” the senators concluded.
In addition to Senators Crapo, Risch and Romney, signatories to the letter include Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Todd Young (R-Indiana).
You can view the full letter below.
