Looking back at how some of the $2.2 trillion in CARES Act money was spent is a lesson in why we don’t need another multi-trillion-dollar spending bill — they are always fraught with waste and abuse.

When Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in the Spring of 2020, it directed states to funnel funds and provide oversight of spending to the state’s counties based on their population size.

Uintah County, Utah used the money to build a tubing hill

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, last January, Uintah County opened a brand-new Buckskin Hills snow hill, complete with snowmakers, snow guns, a tow rope, and more than a dozen runs for tubing, skiing, and snowboarding.

The price tag for the attraction could be half a million dollars or more, and it all came from federal dollars meant for the pandemic response. That has some struggling business owners and county residents raising eyebrows.

Uintah County received $5.1 million. Most of that money, about $3.6 million, went to two rounds of economic recovery grants for local businesses according to a public-records request. Another $114,000 went to two local artists to paint murals.

But the Tribune found that some business owners were left behind.

“I had to sell my house just to make this all work. This COVID grant would’ve been a godsend to me,” Darryl Andersen, owner of Wet and Wild Rentals told the Tribune. He said he was twice denied an economic recovery grant for his event rental business.

Westfield, New Jersey bought tote bags still sitting in a warehouse

According to the New Jersey Globe, in 2020 the town of Westfield used some of its stimulus money to buy 2,000 canvas tote bags that were never distributed and have been sitting in boxes at the Department of Public Works since last year.

The tote bags were part of a federally funded Holiday Visitors Center set up in a vacant storefront and staffed by paid “ambassadors” who were hired “to patrol our downtown streets starting in mid-November and continuing every day through Christmas.”

The $8,000 tote bag plan — part of a $72,530 grant to help jumpstart a downtown economy that has seen multiple store closings as a result of the coronavirus pandemic — were to “emblazon a ‘Shop Local, Shop Safe, Shop Westfield’ message on them.”

“The canvas bags were never intended to be fully distributed during last year’s holiday season,” Bob Zuckerman, the executive director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation told the Globe. “We will continue to distribute them throughout the year including at special events such as Girl’s Night Out, Sweet Sounds Downtown and during this year’s holiday season.”

But the grant application for the Downtown Westfield Covid Relief program pledged the distribution of the tote bags in during the 2020 holiday season.

Connecticut state lawmaker charged with scheme to steal $600K in CARES money

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut recently charged a state lawmaker and a West Haven city employee with creating a phony investment group last February, that fraudulently billed the City of West Haven and its “COVID-19 Grant Department” for consulting services purportedly provided to the West Haven Health Department that were not performed. From February 2021 through September 2021, the City of West Haven paid Compass Investment Group a total of $636,783.70.

According to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, Michael DiMassa appears to have been using the money to gamble. The complaint alleges that DiMassa made several large cash withdrawals from the Compass Investment Group LLC bank account, some of which were made shortly before or after he was recorded as having made a large cash “buy-in” of gaming chips at the Mohegan Sun Casino.

According to the Connecticut Mirror, West Haven officials also spent tens of thousands of dollars in federal COVID relief funding on Christmas decorations, payments to a city councilman’s business — and a marching band that performed at the city’s Memorial Day parade.              

Catherine Mortensen is the VP of communications at Americans for Limited Government (ALG). The organization says it is a “non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free-market reforms, private property rights, and core American liberties.”

The question of what role religion should play in American public life is difficult and controversial. It produces a lot of heated debate and no easy answers.

My view is that religion has a role to play in our political life and that its impact on our democracy is largely positive.

It’s true that religion can be misused in politics. Some politicians wield religion as a weapon, using it to support their positions; they argue, in effect, that God is on their side. We pay attention to political figures’ religious beliefs and practices and may often question whether they are sincere — suspecting their displays of religion are for show.

Not surprisingly, Americans have debated where to draw the line between religion and government since the beginning.

The founders, who were not uniform in their religious views, left room for disagreement. In the Declaration of Independence, they said we owe our rights to “our creator,” but the Constitution doesn’t refer to God. State constitutions often reference God or the divine.

However, religious language is ubiquitous in American life. The Pledge of Allegiance refers to “one nation under God.” Our currency bears the motto “In God we trust.” Almost all presidents and most members of Congress have been affiliated with a church and identified as Christian.

Americans have mixed views on these matters. According to Pew Research Center surveys, just over half say it’s important for the president to have strong religious beliefs, and roughly half say the Bible should influence U.S. laws. About a third say that government policies should support religious values; a majority say churches should “stay out of politics.”

In fact, churches are not infrequently restricted by law in their political activity, despite constitutional protection of free speech and religious freedom. We’ve long had laws to prevent churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits and charities from participating in election campaigns.

The First Amendment enshrines freedom of religion as a fundamental right: Government can’t prohibit the free exercise of religion, and it can’t compel religious practice. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that the amendment created a “wall of separation” between church and state.

Some Americans argue that means there should be no connection between religion and government.

My view is that religion is integral to people’s lives and should be a part of our political discourse. Why? It focuses our attention on transcendent purposes, not just our own self-interest.

Faith traditions teach that we are all children of the same God or part of the same web of life. Religion fosters qualities of compassion and empathy, which is needed in public life. Some think of religion as being aligned exclusively with conservative politics, but that isn’t always the case. Churches and clergy have been at the forefront of efforts to abolish slavery, welcome immigrants, promote civil rights, and prevent war.

Religion and politics are certainly separate spheres. Religion is concerned with faith, beliefs, spirituality and morality, and, in some traditions, eternity. The primary business of politics is, of course, political power. Sometimes religion and politics seem diametrically opposed. Those of us who participate in politics must be careful when we bring religion into the public arena. The temptation is to suggest God approves of our political views and is on our side on the issues.

But religion can be an antidote to the selfishness, cynicism, and nihilism that often infect our politics. For that reason, I hope religion continues to play a role in our public life.        

Lee Hamilton, 90, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.