Pandemic Relief Money Spent On Hotel, Ballpark, Ski Slopes

An Associated Press review finds that state and local governments have spent nearly $1 billion worth of federal coronavirus aid on projects that have little to do with combating the pandemic.

The spending runs the gamut. In Broward County, Florida, $140 million will help to build an upscale hotel.

In Dutchess County, New York, $12 million is being used to renovate a minor league ballpark.

Alabama plans to spend $400 million building new prisons.

When congressional Democrats passed their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan a year ago, they characterized it as “emergency funding” that would keep front-line workers on the job, open schools and ramp up vaccinations.

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319) into law. The $1.9 trillion package, based on President Biden's American Rescue Plan, is intended to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including the public health and economic impacts.

"The American Rescue Plan is delivering direct relief to the American people, rescuing the American economy, and starting to beat the virus," according to the White House.