More than $1 billion in unused COVID-19 pandemic-era funding will be returned to taxpayers five years after it was allocated by Congress, the Labor Department announced.
The $1.4 billion will be sent back to taxpayers via the Treasury Department’s General Fund, the Labor Department said in a March 31 statement, noting that it is seeking to recover another $2.9 billion.
“The roughly $4.3 billion was intended for states to use for temporary unemployment insurance during the pandemic,” the department said.
“Instead, several states continued spending millions of dollars despite no longer meeting necessary requirements, which was uncovered in a 2023 audit conducted by the department’s Office of Inspector General.”…