Some states plan big spending with Biden's aid, others wait

While awaiting funding from the latest federal coronavirus relief act, some executives and state legislatures are already making plans to add $ 1 billion to their budgets.

Among their priorities are: recovering obsolete accounts, speeding up the internet and providing additional assistance to schools and businesses.

The $ 1.9 billion disease relief bill signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year contains $ 350 billion in flexible national and local government assistance, as well as billions of dollars in other programs such as housing assistance. Unlike previous coronavirus assistance, states have a broader way of spending money to close budget holes, invest in specific infrastructure or deal with the "negative economic impacts" of the epidemic.

Nations are expected to receive their first installment soon, with the second round coming next year.

"A billion dollars has just come down from the sky, in some ways," said Republican Governor V.ont Phil Scott. "It's here, in front of us. We have to plant it wisely."

Like many executives, Scott had not faced a new flow of organizational funding when he presented the budget plan earlier this year. He is now working with law enforcement to include it in the state expenditure plan while awaiting guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department. In some ways money can be spent - or will not be spent.

Scott wants to invest in economic development, climate change programs, water and sanitation infrastructure, housing and fast internet. Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint also wants others to go and train staff.

In some countries, spending plans include teacher and first responders bonuses; help with movie theaters and entertainment venues; construction of parks and public facilities; and support to farmers, commercial fishing and food operators.

"It's really old-fashioned: They announce, there's no information and everyone fills in the blanks with what they want to use," said Virginia Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne.

Officials in Virginia and about a dozen other states told the Associated Press to wait for the Treasury to guide them before making any spending plans. Provincial law prohibits countries from using this assistance to make pension payments or to pay income tax. Some state officials are concerned that other uses may also be banned, creating an arrangement that requires them to reinstate the provincial government.

"If we don't know what the guidelines are, it makes it difficult to spend money, because we don't want to misuse it and give it back," he said. Iowa, Kim Reynolds, Republican.

Provincial legislation, known as the American Rescue Plan, comes in excess of the $ 150 billion the provincial government sent directly to provinces and local government last year.

This year's law lists water infrastructure, sanitation and broadband internet as permitted. It is not clear whether the money could be used for other infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. But some states plan to do so, anyway.

The budget plan passed by the Indiana Legislature allocates $ 192 million in federal aid to pay for bonds for the Interstate 69 project and $ 900 million for other "future state infrastructure projects." Maine government Janet Mills, a Democrat, released a plan this week to allocate $ 50 million for road and bridge work this summer.

The broader provision allows countries to use federal aid for "government services" affected by the reduction in costs caused by the epidemic. States could also use this assistance to provide additional funding for key staff, such as the $ 1,000 bonuses included in the Florida budget for first responders, teachers and first aid teachers.

Federal law allows countries to deal with the economic effects of the epidemic by providing assistance to households, small businesses, non-profit organizations and industries such as tourism, tourism and tourism. But that doesn't stop money from going to other purposes.

The Connecticut government Ned Lamont, a Democrat, wants to spend more than half of the state's flexible state funds to close budget holes in the next two years. But his plan will also spend millions on social programs.

Lamont wants to spend $ 15 million to provide free child care in museums, aquariums, zoos and other places from July to Labor Day; $ 3.5 million to help send low-income children to sports and special camps; and $ 1.9 million for programs that provide "safe, fun and healthy places" for young people. He said the programs would provide two benefits - helping children who were isolated from the community during the epidemic and organizations that lost money due to a lack of customers.

The Mills comprehensive program will provide assistance to the Maine agricultural and marine fisheries industry, increase public support for private sector research and support health insurers to temporarily reduce premiums for small businesses and their employees, among others.

Officials in Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Maryland are among those who want to use part of their federal assistance to fill the deadline for unemployment. Doing so could protect businesses from temporary tax evasion that could otherwise be used to repay a loan for a profit-oriented organization where unemployment rates are earned during the closure of the coronavirus.

The Republican-led Senate-led program will provide about $ 700 million to compensate small business owners who have been forced to close or ban their jobs because of the epidemic - "***" gold "some Democrats have said should be partially transferred to workers at higher wages.

Republic of the Republic. Senen Mike Thompson said compensation should have been paid in recent months, as the epidemic limits were set.

"Many of these businesses should not have been closed," Thompson said.

In Kansas and other countries, rising government spending has created gaps in who can control how it is spent.