WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott released the below statement following a report that state and local governments are wasting billions in taxpayer dollars intended for COVID relief on ridiculous and unrelated “political endeavors and pet projects,” including building prisons and golf courses. This report comes as the Biden administration considers another massive spending package under the guise of “COVID relief.”

Senator Scott led the fight in Congress to stop wasteful state and local bailouts. For nearly a year, Senator Scott has been calling on governors and mayors across the United States to reject and return any federal funding from President Biden’s massive, partisan and wasteful $1.9 trillion “COVID” spending package, that was passed without a single Republican vote, in excess of their federally-reimbursable COVID-19 related expenses. Senator Scott also joined Senator Cynthia Lummis to introduce the Pay Down the Debt Act, which would permit state and local governments to redirect grants they receive from the federal government toward reducing federal deficit spending.

Senator Rick Scott said, “American taxpayers should be enraged. Despite mountains of data showing state and local governments didn’t need a wasteful $350 billion bailout from the federal government last year, Democrats did what they always do: recklessly threw billions of taxpayer dollars into the air with no accountability. State and local governments are now swimming in extra cash, using funding intended for COVID relief as a slush fund for their completely unrelated pet projects. That is unacceptable. This reckless misuse of taxpayer dollars, which is further fueling inflation, is disgusting. Families and small businesses are struggling to keep up amid Biden’s raging inflation and supply chain crises and stretching budgets to keep their businesses open. These elected officials, and the Washington Democrats who fought so hard to greenlight this wasteful spending, should be ashamed of themselves.”

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