Another provision of the CARES Act sent $1.25 billion to states to use in responding to the health and economic fallout from the virus. Montana Republican lawmakers have increasingly criticized Bullock for what they say is a slow disbursement of the funds.
“That money needs to be deployed to our communities, to our counties, to every corner of our state,” Daines said. “I’m not sure if (Bullock) thinks there’s an advantage to hoarding it. He needs to get it out quickly.”
While Bullock has allocated $820 million, Republicans repeatedly pointed out that by June only a fraction of the money had gone out the door. Funds must be spent by the end of the year.
“(Daines) fails to understand that at the end of the day, we have five more months,” Bullock said. “This pandemic is not going away, and we want to make sure we use that money wisely. We’ve already allocated $800 million of it, and we need to hold back some to see what happens going forward.”
More than $121 million has been…
