GOP Senator Blasts Biden Over Use Of COVID Funds For Social Activism

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) criticized President Joe Biden for using COVID funds for social justice projects.

Braun shared the remarks during a Tuesday “Fox & Friends” interview.

“There is so much money sloshing around in that $2 trillion bill – only 10% of it went to COVID. We’re going to see more and more of this over time,” Braun said.

The Indiana senator referred to the alleged misuse of funding as part of an “inflation bomb.”

“It’s part of the inflation bomb. Now we’re seeing how it’s blowing up around the country with stuff like this. It’s no good. We’ve asked them to tell us what is left unspent: What do you have rat-holed away?” Braun questioned.

Braun argued that the spending is taking place in smaller amounts to avoid controversy but that he and others would help put a stop to it.

“We’re going to see it little by little, because they know if they did it all at once, it would shock everybody big time,” Braun added. “They’re not going to pull it off. We are going to watch and sadly there is going to be more of it.”

The senator was part of an effort by Republican lawmakers earlier this year to seek an accounting of the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, including how much is unspent.

In a March letter, Braun and other GOP Senate members wrote, “Before we would consider supporting an additional $30 billion for COVID-19 relief, Congress must receive a full accounting of how the government has already spent the first $6 trillion.”

The letter followed a March Associated Press report that detailed three large projects funded by COVID relief funds. They included a Broward County, Florida, hotel, a New York minor league baseball stadium, and $5 million to pay off debts for a nonprofit in Boston established to honor the late Edward Kennedy.

Braun has instead joined in a June bill that proposed for some COVID funds to be used to strengthen school safety following the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The Safe Schools Act proposes a variety of measures that include physical security, video surveillance, and armed resource officers.