Full text of COVID-19 : Resources for Tracking Federal Spending
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INSIGHTi COVID-19: Resources for Tracking Federal Spending Updated June 8, 2020 Congress has responded to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with various legislation providing relief to individuals and families, state and local governments, businesses, health care providers, and other entities. This CRS Insight provides information on selected sources for tracking COVID-19 relief funding provided through these bills. For general information on resources for tracking federal funds, see CRS Report R44027, Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, by Jennifer Teefy. Consolidated Data on COVID-19 Federal Funding USAspending.gov According to an Office of Management and Budget memorandum (April 10, 2020), there are plans to identify COVID-19-related federal awards linked to specific funding legislation in the Treasury database USAspending.gov, beginning with the June 2020 reporting period. USAspending.gov tracks federal contract and grant awards and other federal spending at the state, congressional district, and local levels. For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10231, Tracking Federal Awards in States and Congressional Districts Using USAspending.gov, by Jennifer Teefy. Pandemic Response Accountability Committee The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), a new federal entity created by the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136)—one of the funding bills referenced above—is to publish COVID-19 federal assistance, grant, and contract awards data at state and congressional district levels as it becomes available. The PRAC website is integrated with the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s (CIGIE’s) website, the oversight and coordination body for the federal inspector general community. For more information, see CRS Insight IN11343, The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee: Organization and Duties, by Ben Wilhelm. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11407 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Congressional Research Service 2 The following sources may also assist congressional offices with tracking COVID-19 relief funding by type of recipient. State and Local Governments Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) The CRF provides $150 billion in direct assistance to state, territorial, local, and tribal governments based on population. For more information, see CRS Report R46298, The Coronavirus Relief Fund (CARES Act, Title V): Background and State and Local Allocations, by Grant A. Driessen. For specific allocations to states, see Table 1. State and Local Government Offices State and local budget offices may also be resources for information related to COVID-19 spending; publicly available information may vary widely from one jurisdiction to another. Small Businesses The Small Business Administration (SBA) periodically publishes reports and data on its programs, including data on approved loans for programs supporting disaster assistance and recovery: Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). SBA provides data on the number and amounts of approved EIDL loans by state and publishes separate data on EIDL Advances by state (known as Emergency EIDL grants). Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). SBA provides the total number and amounts of approved PPP loans by state. For information on programs supporting small businesses that are administered from other federal agencies, see CRS Insight IN11301, Small Businesses and COVID-19: Relief and Assistance Resources, by Maria Kreiser. Medium and Large Businesses Treasury Department Treasury’s Payroll Support Program provides payroll support to passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers, and certain contractors for continuing payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits. Treasury provides data tables on payments to recipients by city and state. The location provided is the address participants include in their applications and may not include all locations in which a recipient operates. Another Treasury program provides loans to passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers, and businesses critical to national security. As of this report’s date, data on these loans have not been made publicly available. Federal Reserve (Fed) The CARES Act makes funds available to the Fed to provide emergency funding, credit, liquidity, and loans to businesses. The Fed announced on April 23, 2020, that it will be disclosing, on a monthly basis, “substantial amounts of information” on borrowers, loan amounts, and interest rates. Congressional Research Service 3 For information on these Treasury- and Fed-facilitated business assistance programs, see CRS Report R46329, Treasury and Federal Reserve Financial Assistance in Title IV of the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136), coordinated by Andrew P. Scott; and CRS Insight IN11368, Larger Businesses and COVID-19: Financial Relief and Assistance Resources, by Julie Jennings and Justin Murray. Individuals Economic Impact Payments The CARES Act includes economic impact payments for individuals and families. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service provide data on these payments by state through periodic news releases; as of this report’s date, the latest release was on May 22, 2020. For more information, see CRS Insight IN11282, COVID-19 and Direct Payments to Individuals: Summary of the 2020 Recovery Rebates/Economic Impact Payments in the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136), by Margot L. Crandall-Hollick. Grant Awards on Selected Federal Agency Websites Several agencies provide information on COVID-19-related grant awards: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) HHS provides details on COVID-19-related grant awards on its website and allows for filtering by state and city. Each award in the table under the heading “COVID-19 Award Details For Emergency Supplemental Appropriation Funding” is linked to one of the funding bills referenced above. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) FEMA announced information in mid-May about obligations to each state, including data on FEMAcoordinated delivery of medical and personal protective equipment. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HUD provides information on CARES Act funding at the state, county, and city levels for the Community Development Block Program, the Emergency Solutions Grants program, and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program. Department of Justice (DOJ) DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs provides information on awards by state/territory, county, and congressional district. Many of the recent awards have either “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in the title. Department of Labor (DOL) DOL provides information on approved funding from Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grants, by recipient state agency. DOL’s Employment and Training Administration announces workforce-related grant awards via press releases. National Science Foundation (NSF) Search NSF’s awards database for the keywords “covid” or “coronavirus” to identify COVID-19-related awards. Filtering by state is also available. Congressional Research Service 4 Other Resources The Committee for a Responsible Budget’s COVID Money Tracker will reportedly feature papers, blogs, spreadsheets, data visualizations, and an interactive database for tracking funds. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has announced plans to launch a COVID19 relief spending tracker. The Rockefeller Institute of Government’s COVID-19 State Relief Dashboard is an interactive tool for viewing state allocation data for programs such as CRF and PPP. Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS) is a subscription-only service that attempts to track federal funding to states—including funding from the COVID-19 relief bills. Many state governments subscribe to this resource. Information is limited for nonsubscribers. Author Information Jennifer Teefy Senior Research Librarian Maria Kreiser Senior Research Librarian Disclaimer This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material. IN11407 · VERSION 3 · UPDATED