A new report claims that a significant portion of the federal funding allocated for relief spending during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic remains unspent by state governments.

According to Just The News, the report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) details how much money was allocated and how much has been spent through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program, which was created as a result of the American Rescue Plan passed in 2021. As a result, the United States Treasury allocated a grand total of $350 billion to be spent by the 50 states, the five territories, and Washington, D.C.

The state governments have since reported obligating 73% of that money, amounting to roughly $142.2 billion, as of September 30th, 2023. Of that money, the states and D.C. have reported spending just 53%, about $103.7 billion. Recipients of the SLFRF funds have to report allocating all of the money by the deadline of December 31st, 2024, and must spend that money by December 31st of 2026.

Only eight states reported spending less than 25% of their designated funds, with another eight states spending more than 75%. The two states that have spent the least are Oklahoma and South Carolina, which have each spent just 5% of their funds, while Alaska and Minnesota have spent the highest, at 96% and 99%, respectively.

This report further proves a clear trend of many governments at the state and local level failing to spend all of their COVID relief funds in a timely or relevant manner, leading to widespread criticism of corruption, fraud, or mishandling of COVID funds. A previous report by the GAO found that a staggering 4,268 localities with a collective total of $3 billion in SLFRF funds failed to submit the required report to the Treasury documenting their spending details by the deadline of April 30th, 2023. Of these 4,268 localities, 2,155 failed to submit a similar report by the previous year’s deadline in 2022.

However, the GAO report attempted to make excuses for the local governments that have not yet spent the money, claiming that smaller government entities have “limited capacity and other challenges that affect their ability to report on time.”

For this reason, the GAO report claims, smaller governments “were often the ‘most nervous’ to accept SLFRF awards (due to their limited experience with receiving federal funds).”

“Treasury had concerns over creating ‘undue pressure’ or a ‘chilling effect’ on these recipients by publicly sharing information about who did not submit a report,” the report noted.