With less than two months to spend $1 billion in CARES Act Funds, dozens of organizations have written a letter urging Governor Kay Ivey to not let the money go back to the federal government. Alabama was allocated $1.7 billion dollars in COVID-19 relief funding and still has yet to spend the majority of it. The money that isn’t spent by December 31 will be returned to the federal government.
One of the 82 organizations that signed the letter to Ivey is Alabama Arise, an organization that advocates for policy that improves the lives of low-income citizens in Alabama. Robyn Hyden, executive director of the organization is hoping that the money will be spent on time and wisely. “We’re now almost to the deadline, and there’s 1 billion in unspent money just sitting on the table,” Hyden commented to Fox10 News. “So we are very concerned that not only are these funds not getting spent quickly enough, but they’re not going in a targeted way to the most vulnerable people in our state.”
The advocacy organizations all agreed that there are four main priorities for spending the funds: alleviating hunger; addressing evictions and homelessness; supporting people particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and child care.
Alabama Arise quoted Hyden on Twitter stating, “People are still really struggling, and our economy will not bounce back until every family who’s been hit hard has more opportunity and has more support.”
“People are still really struggling, and our economy will not bounce back until every family who’s been hit hard has more opportunity and has more support,” Arise’s @robynhyden tells @FOX10News. #CARESAct funds are critical to fight hunger, homelessness and hardship. #alpolitics https://t.co/z1y1QA1irG
— Alabama Arise (@AlabamaArise) November 16, 2020
Gina Maiola, Ivey’s spokeswoman said in a statement, “In consultation with Legislative Leadership, the governor will evaluate the need to shift funds again to potentially address areas that will impact our economy, specifically small businesses. As Governor Ivey has pointed out, $1.7 billion is a hefty chunk of money to spend in six months, but she and the team at Finance will continue working to get this spent and into the hands of Alabamians.”
Part of the letter states, “It is important to remember that even before this pandemic devastated the economy, Alabama was the fifth poorest state in the U.S. with 800,000 of our residents living in poverty. These CARES Act funds provide our best hope to ensure the economic downturn does not force these families into long term, catastrophic conditions that will impact generations to come.”
A copy of the letter can be seen here.
