covid relief | The Georgia Star News

McCarthy-Biden Debt Deal Eliminates Unspent COVID Funds, Blocks IRS Expansion and Reforms Permitting

May 28, 2023 Just the News

The debt limit deal struck late Saturday between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden rolls back some of Washington’s massive spending while delivering other conservative priorities like blocking new taxes and requiring some welfare recipients to work, according to a summary obtained by Just the News.

McCarthy described the deal as an “agreement in principle,” and it rolls back domestic spending to fiscal year 2022 levels while limiting “top line federal spending to 1% growth for the next 6 years.”

Commentary: The Fed’s Interest Rate Hikes Have only Destroyed $398 Billion of the $6 Trillion It Printed

September 27, 2022September 26, 2022 Admin

“Our expectation has been we would begin to see inflation come down, largely because of supply side healing. We haven’t. We have seen some supply side healing but inflation has not really come down.”

That was Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Sept. 21, speaking to reporters following the central bank’s meeting where the Federal Funds Rate was once again increased 0.75 percent to its current range of 3 percent to 3.25 percent in a bid to combat sticky 8.3 percent consumer inflation the past year.

Former Georgia Mayor Sentenced to Prison for Stealing COVID-19 Relief Funds

July 15, 2022July 14, 2022 Cooper Moran

Jason Lary, the former Mayor of the City of Stonecrest, was sentenced to spend close to five years in federal prison for his scheme that stole thousands of COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government.

According to a release from the Department of Justice, the former government official took more than $100,000 from the citizens of his city.

Georgia Doling Out More Than $11 Million in COVID Relief to Help Teachers

April 1, 2022March 31, 2022 The Center Square

The Georgia Department of Education is dishing out more than $11 million in federal COVID-19 relief to help more than 14,600 Georgia teachers.

The State Board of Education approved $6.8 million in Expanding Opportunities for Teachers Grants for 19 school districts, higher education institutions and Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs). Recipients can use the money to pay for tuition, fees and exam costs for Georgia public school teachers enrolled in approved Teacher and Teacher Leader Endorsement programs.

Commentary: $800 Billion Stimulus Program Failed Terribly and Mostly Benefited the Wealthy, MIT Economist Finds

January 22, 2022January 21, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The federal government has spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer on so-called “stimulus” efforts since the pandemic began. Where did all that money go? Well, as it turns out, one of the biggest stimulus programs, the Paycheck Protection Program, failed miserably.

At least, that’s the finding of a new study from MIT economist David Autor and nine coauthors. They examined the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which gave “loans,” most of which won’t have to be paid back, to businesses. It was created by Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike in hopes of helping businesses preserve their employees’ jobs for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

The study tracks the money to see where it ended up and what it achieved. The results… aren’t pretty.

Treasury Department Has Distributed Fraction of Emergency Rent Assistance with Just Days Until Evictions Begin

July 23, 2021July 22, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

The Department of the Treasury has awarded a small fraction of the tens of billions of dollars Congress appropriated for pandemic rental assistance since January.

The federal government has expended less than $3 billion of the $46.6 billion in funds given to the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday. The U.S. doled out $1.49 billion from January through May and $1.5 billion in June to low-income renters nationwide, according to a spreadsheet published by the Treasury.

Alabama Becomes Latest State to End $300 Unemployment Bonus

May 12, 2021May 11, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Alabama will soon cease participating in the federal government’s unemployment insurance program that grants out-of-work Americans an extra $300 per week, the state’s governor said.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced that the state would withdraw from the coronavirus relief program by June 19, 2021, arguing that the $300 in additional weekly payments was incentivizing people not to look for jobs. She suggested that the labor shortages reported in states across the country have been caused by the unemployment boost.

“As Alabama’s economy continues its recovery, we are hearing from more and more business owners and employers that it is increasingly difficult to find workers to fill available jobs, even though job openings are abundant,” Ivey said in a statement.

Commentary: Federal ‘COVID’ Spending Just Hit $41,870 Per Taxpayer

March 13, 2021March 12, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

President Biden just signed his sweeping $1.9 trillion spending package into law. Once this bill hits the books, total taxpayer expenditure on (ostensibly) COVID relief will hit $6 trillion—which, roughly estimated, comes out to $41,870 in spending per federal taxpayer.

Did you see anywhere near that much in benefit?

Billions of Coronavirus Stimulus Money Still Hasn’t Been Spent, Republican Senators Say in Letter to Biden

February 1, 2021January 31, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

A group of ten Republican senators outlined a less expensive coronavirus relief compromise bill and said much of the past stimulus passed during the pandemic hasn’t been spent yet.

The proposed stimulus framework builds on prior legislation that passed with bipartisan support, the 10 senators wrote in the letter Sunday. The group, which included Sens. Mitt Romney, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, also requested a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss the bill.

Commentary: The Constitutional Politics of President Trump’s Impoundment Move

January 4, 2021January 3, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

To understand President Trump’s signing of the latest so-called COVID-19 “stimulus” bill after days of veto threats, we need to understand the critical constitutional history of the Watergate era.

Citing the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Trump declared, “I will sign the Omnibus and COVID package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.”

Tag: covid relief