Ernst Seeks to Return $65 Billion of Unspent COVID Cash to Taxpayers

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is introducing legislation to claw back more than $65 billion in unspent COVID funds and return the money to taxpayers.

Her Returning Unspent COVID Funds Act identifies $65.5 billion currently sitting in outdated COVID slush funds that should be returned to the American people. Instead, they continued to fund drag shows for high school students in New Hampshire, an ice cream truck in California, and massage chairs in Montana.

“The COVID cash bonanza was a $4.5 trillion all-you-can-eat buffet of waste, fraud, and abuse with the cost eaten by taxpayers,” said Ernst. “At $38 trillion in debt, the federal government shouldn’t have secret slush funds or be spending them on golf carts, bowling parties, and high school drag shows. While too much money has already been sent out the door, we have a chance to return the remaining $65 billion to the American people.”

Click here to view the bill.

Here is just a snapshot of purchases made with COVID cash:

• Massage chairs for a teachers’ lounge “as a way to help retain staff during the pandemic” in Montana;
• A California school district bought an ice cream truck;
• More than $185 million for golf courses, including the purchase of golf carts;
• $6.6 million was spent on a new sprinkler systems for golf courses in Colorado Springs;
• A Minnesota town bought so many new golf carts, increased maintenance was required to repair the added wear on the course;
• More than $2,000 for a bowling party in Connecticut;
• $10 million for rodeos;
• $7,675 to hire a 20-piece marching band for a parade;
• More than $2,400 on swag included handcrafted plaques, keychains, banners, and signs including the one spelling BOSS in Connecticut;
• An old-fashioned soda shop with an adult twist, a hidden speakeasy cocktail bar, in Connecticut;
• The construction of new cottages, a basketball court, and a ninja course at a camp in Arizona;
• $20,000 for payments on a Cadillac in Oklahoma;
• $15 million to install showers and a commercial kitchen at a site to host the circus and local flea market;
• $4,500 for Apple watches in South Carolina;
• $7,500 on entertainment, gifts, personal items, and bogus bonuses for the staff of grant recipients in Oklahoma;
• More than $75,000 paying the salaries of ghost employees for jobs or hours they did no work in South Carolina and West Virginia;
• $62,000 for over 1,200 pool passes in West Virginia;
• New York spent nearly $453 million on 247,000 pieces of medical equipment for COVID, yet only 3 items were ever distributed;
• Payments to family members of grant recipients in West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma;
• Hundreds of dollars of DoorDash deliveries in Connecticut; and
• Whistleblowers in Minnesota were fired after alleging federal COVID funding was spent on employee bonuses, perks, and gifts, which were concealed by submitting false invoices, and an invite-only party with food trucks that cost $10,000.

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