State and local governments will soon gain new flexibility to spend billions of federal coronavirus relief dollars on things not directly related to the pandemic, including new roads and bridges and aid to people affected by wildfires, floods and other natural disasters.
The broadened spending authority for the previously approved pandemic aid was one of many of provisions wrapped into a recently enacted $1.7 trillion spending bill for the federal government's 2023 budget year. It comes after city, county and state officials lobbied for more than a year for greater flexibility in how they can use a $350 billion pool of aid approved by President Joe Biden and the Democratic-led Congress in March 2021.
