(Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)
The States have been charged by Congress with distributing quite a bit of federal money lately. That means that our federal tax dollars, yours and mine, are in the hands of State officials.
Are they competent, incompetent, or what?
Most recently, it has come to light that out of $46 Billion in federal appropriations to assist renters and owners with rent payments, the States have distributed only $3 Billion of it. It is not even their money, it is our money, and it comes to the States from the federal government. So the States do not even have to worry that spending it will somehow make them, the States, poorer for the spending; it won't.
Still the States are not spending the federal money.
States have also been tasked with paying federal money in supplemental unemployment benefits to people who cannot find a job during a pandemic. In this area, the States are sometimes clear in their intent at least to reject the federal money: Some States reject having to spend the federal money because, well, they are not clear why since it is not their money. It is our money, and it comes to the States from the federal government.
Still the States are not spending the federal money.
There are other programs in which the States are being given the duty by Congress to spend federal money, and the States are not doing their duty. States are not spending the federal money appropriated for these programs. This business of having the States distribute federal money -- meaning, again, federal taxpayer dollars from you and me -- is apparently a new way of "passing the buck" in Washington.
Are they competent, incompetent, or what?
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