Page 1 GAO-24-107301 Fiscal Recovery Funds
The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program
allocated $350 billion to tribal governments, states, the District of Columbia, local
governments, and U.S. territories to help cover a broad range of costs stemming
from the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
1
SLFRF was
established under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and is
administered by the Department of the Treasury. SLFRF recipients must
regularly submit reports to Treasury on their use of the awards and the projects
undertaken with them.
2
SLFRF recipients have until December 31, 2024, to
obligate their SLFRF awards and generally have until December 31, 2026, to
spend their awards.
The CARES Act includes a provision for us to monitor the use of federal funds to
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3
This report updates our October 2023 and
April 2024 reports on states’ and localities’ SLFRF spending and uses of
SLFRF.
4
We will continue to review states’ and localities’ reported obligations
and spending, as well as their uses of SLFRF awards.
• As of March 31, 2024—the most recent data available at the time of this
report—states reported obligating 84 percent ($163.7 billion) and spending 60
percent ($117.3 billion) of the SLFRF awards they received.
• Localities reported obligating 76 percent ($95.8 billion) and spending 60
percent ($75.8 billion) of their awards during the same period.
5
• States and localities reported spending the largest share of their awards to
replace revenue lost due to the pandemic. As of March 31, 2024, 45 percent
($53.2 billion) of states’ reported spending and 68 percent ($51.5 billion) of
localities’ reported spending was used for this purpose.
Under ARPA, the SLFRF allocated the $350 billion across six groups of
recipients (see fig. 1). Localities included counties, metropolitan cities (which we
refer to as cities throughout this report), and non-entitlement units of local
government (NEU), which are smaller local governments typically serving
populations of less than 50,000.
6
U.S. Government Accountability Office
-19 Relief: States’ and Localities’ Fiscal
Recovery Funds Spending as of March 31,
2024
-24-107301
Committees
How much in SLFRF
awards did states and
localities receive?
