The Legislative Research Council has tallied up all the federal dollars that have kept South Dakota afloat during the coronavirus pandemic and recession. At yesterday’s meeting of the Appropriations Committee, LRC presented a 54-page summary of covid-19 stimulus dollars appropriated to South Dakota. On top of the $1.25 billion in last year’s CARES Act money that Governor Kristi Noem used to fabricate a “surplus” and the $974 million more our state government gets from this year’s American Rescue Plan, the LRC figures there’s another $8.86 billion in coronavirus relief that South Dakota state, county, and local governments and other institutions, businesses, and regular South Dakotans have received to ride out the disruption caused by one ambitious virus and a bunch of lazy maskless ignorami. Uncle Sam’s total pandemic socialism for South Dakota: $11.08 billion.
The LRC breaks the coronavirus stimulus down by specific offices and programs. As you can see from this list of outlays over $100 million, the biggest takers of those socialist dollars were you and me, brother:
- Economic Impact Payments (direct payments to South Dakota taxpayers, CARES+ARPA): $1,829,308,000
- Paycheck Protection Program (to small businesses): $1,682,896,085
- Coronavirus Relief Fund (CARES): $1,250,000,000
- Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (to food/ag producers): $1,039,036,935
- State Fiscal Recovery Fund (ARPA): $974,478,793
- Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (I, II, & III): $591,413,931
- Economic Injury Disaster Loans (to small businesses, non-profits, contractors): $503,652,493
- Emergency Rental Assistance (2021 Approps. Act + ARPA): $352,000,000
- Local Fiscal Recovery Fund: $275,521,207
- Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (to laid-off workers, $300 a week, ends Saturday!): $227,930,164
- Health Care Provider Relief Funds—Rural: $210,573,886
- Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (I, II, & III): $159,680,148
- Health Care Provider Relief Funds—General Allocations: $120,604,961
- Capital Projects Fund: $115,752,330
That’s a lot of federal money keeping South Dakota out of the economic ditch through the worst public health crisis of the past century. South Dakota really should say thank you to the United States federal government.
Of course they should say thanks, but it might interfere with their continuing killing of poor people, Medicaid, who needs it, right? Maybe it will help them to keep a lid on all that indoctrination and keep all those South Dakotans off that evil weed too. There is so much they can do with 11 billion. They won’t even need it for bridges a bi-partisan deal on that was done today. So those bridges from Baltic to Dell Rapids are AOK without it. Who needs the money honey? Better speak up, its only part time socialism after all.
Well…the Republican reaction to an 11 billion dollar gift…”Grab it and growl.”