WASHINGTON – After Pres. Joe Biden
reiterated plans to ask Congress for additional COVID-19 funding in his State
of the Union address, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Sen. Mitt Romney
(R-Utah) and 34 of his Republican colleagues in
requesting a detailed breakdown of how the federal government has allocated
trillions in taxpayer funds to combat the pandemic. In their letter, the
lawmakers argue specific answers to these questions are vital before Congress
considers additional COVID-19 funding requests from the White House.
“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.”
“Before we would consider supporting an
additional $30 billion for COVID-19 relief, Congress must receive a full
accounting of how the government has already spent the first $6 trillion,” the senators concluded.
The full text of the letter can be found by
clicking
HERE.
-30-
