Federal agencies have formally committed to using $4 trillion of $4.5 trillion in approved Covid relief funding, and have paid out $3.5 trillion to date.
Policymakers also have a significant share of health care services funding remaining, CNBC's analysis found. The government has spent nearly two-thirds, or $192 billion, of the roughly $303 billion obligated, leaving $111 billion. The GAO noted that much of the money obligated for the Department of Health and Human Services is "available for a multiyear period or are available until expended.
The speed with which the virus wreaked havoc on the economy and the lack of information about how to contain it contributed to a uniquely large and fast government response. "Just one pandemic relief program — the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program — is equal to the federal government's entire response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis," wrote PRAC Chair Michael Horowitz in the group'sThe initial bills were focused on getting money into Americans' pockets as fast as possible to replace lost income as the U.S. unemployment rate spiked to nearly 15% in April 2020.
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