Bidenomics Slush Fund’s History of Misappropriation
A few weeks ago, EPIC uncovered the Bidenomics Slush Fund and the Treasury Department’s misappropriation of $350 billion worth of taxpayer dollars.
The Bidenomics Slush Fund comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provided $350 billion for a new, temporary program to be administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury called the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF). The SLFRF was intended to provide money to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments “to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
The pandemic has long ended, but even before it did, SLFRF dollars were being used for wasteful projects, including golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, rodeos and even a circus.
Earlier today, EPIC released new analysis of the latest SLFRF data, finding that $120 billion of SLFRF money is still unobligated, and thus could be clawed back by Congress. This is particularly salient for the SLFRF funds being used for so-called “revenue replacement” projects that are extremely broad in scope and entirely unrelated to pandemic response and recovery.
Biden Bucks for “Undocumented” Immigrants
Now, EPIC has discovered that the Biden Administration approved $340 million in SLFRF money for cash payments to “undocumented” immigrants in Washington State.
Americans’ COVID relief money was used to send $1,000 checks to immigrants unlawfully residing in the State of Washington.
According to Treasury’s own data, the Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund “[p]rovides a one-time cash grant to of [sic] $1,000 for each resident of Washington who are at least 18 years of age and are ineligible to receive federal economic impact payments or unemployment insurance benefits due to their immigration status.”
The $340 million project is categorized as a “cash transfer” expenditure under the SLFRF, approved for the State of Washington. This means the Biden Administration directly subsidized “undocumented” immigration under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic relief.
The Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund has stopped taking applications, indicating that the project fund is fully exhausted.
The state fund’s annual public report boasts: “In April 2021, the Washington State Legislature approved an additional $340 million for another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians. As in past rounds, this iteration of the Immigrant Relief Fund required targeted community engagement, communications development efforts, and trusted messengers to encourage eligible community members to apply.”
According to an FAQ document about the program made available through the Washington State Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance, one of these “trusted” community-based organizations is Raíz of Planned Parenthood, which notes on its website that they are a “gender-inclusive and non-binary” arm of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Another trusted organization listed that helps manage the fund is the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, which runs the “Deportation Defense Hotline in WA State.”
The FAQ document goes on to clarify that accepting the $1,000 check subsidized by federal taxpayers “should not be considered under the public charge rule” and “[r]eceiving assistance from the fund should not impact someone’s ability to obtain a green card.” In other words, even though this check is public assistance, because it is being funneled through a so-called COVID program, it would not constitute welfare in such a way that would prevent someone from receiving a permanent resident card.
Thus, the Biden Administration is directly subsidizing undocumented immigration while simultaneously claiming the checks do not count in determining if a recipient is dependent on the government and thus a public charge and ineligible for permanent residence.
Tallying the Cost to Taxpayers
While the Biden Administration continues to hit a record number of encounters along the southern border, EPIC has uncovered a pattern of SLFRF projects approved by the Treasury Department related to undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers.
Some of the most notable examples include:
- $3.5 million to Pima County, Arizona, for a respite space to be used by asylum seekers prior to their transportation to other locales.
- $31,000 to the City of Tucson, Arizona, for art, music, and dance classes specifically serving asylum seekers.
- $3.6 million to the State of Illinois for legal services and assistance for immigrants, asylum seekers, and humanitarian parolees, including citizenship application assistance.
- $2.5 million to the City of San Antonio, Texas, for undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers “to address economic security of noncitizens and decreased pathways for citizenship.”
- $5.2 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to fund the expansion of emergency shelters due to the increased number of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.
- $13.5 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to establish a temporary intake shelter and provide case management services for undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.
- $200,000 to Portland City, Maine, for their Housing Support and Asylum Seeker Assistance Program, including direct housing expenses, administrative expenses, and payroll for program employees.
- $4.1 million to Pima County, Arizona, to purchase the temporary Drexel shelter site to house “migrants seeking asylum released into Pima County by U.S. Department of Homeland Security who are traveling to a U.S. destination where they will participate in a court hearing to determine their refugee status.”
- $2 million to the District of Columbia for its Immigrant Justice Legal Services grant program lauded by the mayor as the city’s “proud sanctuary city” program.
Congressional Questions: Open Border, Supplemental Spending, and COVID Clawbacks
Congress is considering an additional supplemental package that may top $110 billion and purportedly includes some border security measures. As it does so, several Congressmembers and Senators have expressed concerns about the high cost of such a package.
If the recent Johnson-Schumer spending deal sticks, Congress has only $63 billion remaining in total discretionary spending remaining for the year – not counting the supplemental – before this year’s federal spending exceeds the fiscal year 2023 total discretionary level hit under Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s control.
A $110 billion deal exceeds that amount by $47 billion. And it may not even secure the border.
The good news: EPIC has found $120 billion in potential COVID clawbacks that could be used to offset supplemental spending – clawbacks from the same SLFRF program currently being abused by the Biden Administration to fund undocumented immigration with federal taxpayer money.
Congress would be wise to stop the waste and abuse in the Bidenomics Slush Fund, turn off the spending spigot subsidizing undocumented immigration, and use the rescinded budget authority to pay for its other priorities like emergency spending for Israel and real border security.
