Prisons, border wall: How GOP is looking to use COVID money

Prisons, border wall: How GOP is looking to use COVID money

SeattlePI.com

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CHICAGO (AP) — When Democrats passed President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Republicans called it liberal “pet projects” disguised as pandemic aid.

But now that Republican governors and local leaders have the money in hand, they are using it for things on their wish lists, too.

Alabama lawmakers are advancing a plan to use $400 million of the state's share toward building prisons in what Gov. Kay Ivey says is a great deal for taxpayers. In Texas, a Republican-led county is sending deputies to assist police along the U.S.-Mexico border and pledged to help Gov. Greg Abbott revive former President Donald Trump's plans for a border wall.

In other places, the money has been used to score political points or as leverage in partisan fights over COVID-19 precautions.

Decrying a “defund the police, soft on crime” liberal agenda, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced $1,000 bonuses for first responders paid for with the relief money. In Wyoming, a Republican legislative leader suggested the money could be used to pay the federal fines of businesses that defy Biden's vaccine mandate.

This probably isn't what the bill's supporters had in mind when Democrats approved the American Rescue Plan along party lines in March, and some Democrats have complained that Republicans are misusing the money. But it's the inevitable result of Washington sending money with few strings attached to places with very different and partisan ideas about how best to spend public dollars.

Democrats also are using the cash to fund their priorities, including expanding Medicaid benefits, putting in place a child tax credit and offering $4 billion in debt forgiveness for farmers of color. In Illinois, Republicans blasted the Democrats who control state government for handing out over $1...

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