Jacobs seeks transparent COVID-19 accounting

Congressman Chris Jacobs, R-NY-27, has co-sponsored legislation to require President Joe Biden to provide a complete account of enacted but unspent COVID-19 funds.

“As Democrats move forward with their unilateral approach to force through a massive $1.9 trillion relief package, I believe it is imperative to know how much funding has already been enacted but remains unspent. That figure could be as high as $1 trillion,” he said. “I agree that more federal assistance is needed to overcome COVID-19, especially for bolstering vaccine distribution, reopening schools, and supporting struggling local governments. However, we need to be targeted and fiscally responsible with our approach to avoid unnecessary spending and costly programs that do not address urgent problems.

“Since such a large amount of funding remains unused, it would be prudent to know what we have or have not spent before enacting additional legislation.

H.Res.127 was introduced by Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith (MO-08) and would require Biden to provide documents relating to unspent COVID-19 relief funding to Congress within 14 days of its adoption. To date, Congress has enacted over $4 trillion in stimulus funds through several relief packages.