Report: Feds sent Wisconsin at least $20 billion in coronavirus relief since March 2020

(The Center Square) – A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum breaks down all of the aid sent to state and local governments since March 2020, and says Wisconsin has seen $20 billion in aid over the past year.

“Using reports from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau and other state and local agencies, we calculate that government units in Wisconsin are expected to receive at least $19.9 billion in relief funding through 2024,” the report states. “This figure exceeds a year’s worth of state general fund tax collections and is more than twice as much as the $9.1 billion the Legislative Audit Bureau reported the state government received and spent over several years under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”

The biggest pieces of Wisconsin’s haul include:

$5.1 billion in coronavirus relief or recovery dollars.$3.2 billion for extra unemployment benefits.$2.7 billion for local coronavirus relief of recovery dollars.$2.4 billion for elementary and high school relief across the state.

“The $19.9 billion represents only those amounts going to or passing through a government unit or school district in the state. It does not count many billions in additional money the federal government has distributed directly to individuals, businesses, and organizations in Wisconsin,” the report states.

The Policy Forum points to other estimates that say direct payments to people and businesses in Wisconsin could be worth another $13.6 billion.

To put $20 billion in federal aid in a little over a year in perspective, Wisconsin’s entire state budget for the year is a little over $40 billion.

Gov. Evers has been able to spend almost all of the state’s share of the money on his own. The governor on Thursday vetoed a plan from Republicans legislators that would have given them some say over the federal dollars.

The policy forum says the governor now has an “opportunity” with Wisconsin’s federal haul.

“This unprecedented influx of federal aid has turned what a year ago appeared to be a historic fiscal challenge for state and local governments into a potential opportunity to address needs that emerged from the pandemic or even predated it,” the report states.

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