COVID-19: Resources for Tracking Federal Spending

INSIGHTi

COVID-19: Resources for Tracking Federal

Spending

Updated July 31, 2020

Congress has responded to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with various legislation

providing relief to individuals and families, state and local governments, businesses, health care

providers, and other entities.

This Insight provides selected sources for tracking COVID-19 relief funding provided through these bills.

For a legislative summary of the enacted bills, and a broad discussion of both the discretionary and direct

spending measures provided by Congress, see CRS Report R46449, Tallying Federal Funding for

COVID-19: In Brief, by William L. Painter.For general information on resources for tracking federal

funds, see CRS Report R44027, Tracking Federal Awards: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, by

Jennifer Teefy.

Consolidated Data on COVID-19 Funding

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USAspending.gov tracks federal contract and grant awards and other federal spending at

the state, congressional district, and local levels. Beginning in July 2020, the database

will feature new tools to search and display COVID-19 spending data in accordance with

an Office of Management and Budget memorandum. See CRS In Focus IF10231,

Tracking Federal Awards in States and Congressional Districts Using USAspending.gov,

by Jennifer Teefy.

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Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), a federal entity created by the

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act; P.L. 116-136), is

publishing updated COVID-19 federal assistance and grant awards data at state and

congressional district levels. Currently, PRAC provides data on COVID-19-related

contract awards from the General Services Administration’s Federal Procurement Data

System. These data are presented through interactive tools with filtering capabilities (e.g.,

by state, county, and congressional district). The website also links to the Small Business

Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program data (discussed below). PRAC’s website

is integrated with the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s website,

the federal inspector general community’s oversight and coordination body. See CRS

Congressional Research Service

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Insight IN11343, The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee: Organization and

Duties, by Ben Wilhelm.

Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) June 2020 report, COVID-19:

Opportunities to Improve Federal Response and Recovery Efforts, includes detailed

updates on the allocation of obligated funds within categories such as relief for health

care providers, COVID-19 testing, unemployment insurance, housing protections, and

education. See Appendix III for allocation information. Another GAO report provides an

overview of contracting activity related to COVID-19 and focuses on the agencies that

account for most of these obligations.

COVID-19 Funding by Type of Recipient

State and Local Governments

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Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) provides $150 billion in direct assistance to state,

territorial, local, and tribal governments based on population. See CRS Report R46298,

The Coronavirus Relief Fund (CARES Act, Title V): Background and State and Local

Allocations, by Grant A. Driessen. For specific allocations to states, see Table 1.

Additionally, the National Conference of State Legislatures provides descriptions of and

links to state CRF oversight plans and a database detailing state CRF actions.

State and local budget offices may be resources for information related to COVID-19

spending; publicly available information may vary from one jurisdiction to another.

Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations

The Small Business Administration (SBA) periodically publishes reports and data on its programs,

including data on approved loans for programs supporting disaster assistance and recovery:

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Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). SBA provides data on the number and

amounts of approved EIDL loans and EIDL Advances (or Emergency EIDL grants) by

state.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). SBA provides information on loans of $150,000

and above, including borrowers’ names, loan amount ranges, and addresses. Information

on loans of less than $150,000 is also available, with borrowers’ names withheld.

Additionally, SBA provides the total number and amounts of approved PPP loans by

state.

For information on programs supporting small businesses that are administered from other federal

agencies, see CRS Insight IN11301, Small Businesses and COVID-19: Relief and Assistance Resources,

by Maria Kreiser.

Treasury Department and Federal Reserve (Fed) programs:

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Treasury’s Payroll Support Program supports passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers,

and certain contractors for continuing payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits.

Treasury provides data tables on payments to recipients by city and state.

Treasury’s Loan Program provides loans to passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers,

and businesses critical to national security. Recent press releases indicate that loans to

major airlines and companies certified to be critical to maintaining national security have

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been approved. Full transaction details are posted on the Treasury website within 72

hours after a transaction is completed.

The Fed has access to CARES Act funds to provide emergency funding, credit, liquidity,

and loans to businesses as well as nonprofit organizations (through the Main Street

Lending Program). The Fed’s website includes updates on these programs and, in some

cases, transaction-specific disclosures.

For information on Treasury- and Fed-facilitated business assistance programs, see CRS Report R46329,

Treasury and Federal Reserve Financial Assistance in Title IV of the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136),

coordinated by Andrew P. Scott; and CRS Insight IN11368, Larger Businesses and COVID-19: Financial

Relief and Assistance Resources, by Julie Jennings and Justin Murray.

Individuals

The CARES Act includes economic impact payments for individuals and families. Treasury and the

Internal Revenue Service provide data on these payments by state through periodic news releases; as of

this report’s date, the latest release was on May 22, 2020. See CRS Report R46415, CARES Act (P.L. 116136) Direct Payments: Resources and Experts, coordinated by Margot L. Crandall-Hollick.

Grant Awards on Selected Federal Agency Websites

Several agencies provide information on COVID-19-related grant awards.

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Department of Health and Human Services provides details on COVID-19-related

grant awards and allows for filtering by state and city. Each award in the table under the

“COVID-19 Award Details For Emergency Supplemental Appropriation Funding”

heading is linked to one of the funding bills referenced above.

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Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA) announced in June information about obligations to each state, including data

on FEMA-coordinated delivery of medical and personal protective equipment.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides information on

CARES Act funding at the state, county, and city levels for the Community Development

Block Program, the Emergency Solutions Grants program, and the Housing Opportunities

for Persons with AIDS Program. HUD also announced specific allocations to tribal

communities and Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies.

Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs provides information on awards by

state/territory, county, and congressional district. Many of the recent awards include

“COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in the title.

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Department of Labor (DOL) provides information on approved funding from Disaster

Recovery Dislocated Worker Grants, by recipient state agency. DOL’s Employment and

Training Administration announces workforce-related grant awards via press releases.

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Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration posts press

releases related to CARES Act assistance.

National Science Foundation identifies COVID-19-related awards in its awards

database by searching for the keywords “covid” or “coronavirus.” Filtering by state is

available.

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Other Resources

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Committee for a Responsible Budget’s COVID Money Tracker features papers, blogs,

spreadsheets, data visualizations, and an interactive database for tracking funds.

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Project on Government Oversight is to launch a COVID-19 relief spending tracker.

Rockefeller Institute of Government’s COVID-19 State Relief Dashboard is an

interactive tool for viewing state allocation data for programs such as CRF and PPP.

Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS) is a subscription-only service attempting

to track federal funding to states—including funding from the COVID-19 relief bills.

Many state governments subscribe to FFIS. Information is limited for nonsubscribers.

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Author Information

Jennifer Teefy

Senior Research Librarian

Maria Kreiser

Senior Research Librarian

Disclaimer

This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff

to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of

Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of

information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.

CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United

States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However,

as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the

permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

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