Massachusetts Required to Pay Feds $2.1 Billion After Pandemic Fund Error

 Massachusetts must give $2.1 billion to the federal government due to an apparent mix up with federal pandemic funds.

Officials said the state will be required to pay the sum over the next ten years after former Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) administration “mistakenly” used the money to cover unemployment benefits, WHDH reported Monday.

Baker was succeeded by Gov. Maura Healey (D) in 2023 “and her deputies unveiled details of a settlement they reached with the outgoing Biden administration Friday in which the Bay State will repay most but not all of the amount it owed due to the error committed years ago,” per the outlet.

In a statement, Healey said it was “frustrating” the previous administration allowed it to happen but said officials were going to work through the problem and bring the business and labor community together, per WPRI:

The WHDH article continued:

Healey announced in the summer of 2023 that her team discovered the Baker administration improperly used about $2.5 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to cover jobless benefits that should have been paid by the state.

With fees and interest, the total liability surpassed $3 billion, according to Healey’s office, who said talks with the U.S. Department of Labor reduced the amount owed to $2.1 billion over the next 10 years.

The news comes at a time when Healey is getting pressure from the Massachusetts Republican Party over her administration’s failure to address the violence and chaos in the state’s taxpayer-funded migrant shelters, Breitbart News reported January 9.

The article noted:

Republican legislators cite information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as evidence of rampant physical and sexual assaults taking place at the shelters since 2022. GOP legislators are asserting Gov. Healey failed to act until a high-profile incident forced her hand.

In regard to the billions of dollars the state must repay, those payments will begin on December 1, Healey’s administration explained. According to CBS Boston, the money will come from existing taxes.