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The Biden administration is threatening to withhold COVID-19 aid funds and claw again previous support from Arizona as a result of it says the state is utilizing the cash to undermine federal steerage about masks in faculties.
The Treasury Division despatched a letter to Arizona officers on Friday warning that the state has 60 days to revamp two present packages that comprise anti-masking provisions.
Federal officers argue the 2 packages are designed to direct funding away from college districts which have launched masks mandates in step with the CDC’s steerage.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey rolled out the 2 packages late final yr amid a dispute with the Biden administration over how the state might use the $4.2 billion it was awarded below the 2021 coronavirus aid invoice.
Below the primary program, districts that require masks in faculties are at present ineligible to obtain any of the $163 million in funding below Arizona’s Schooling Plus-Up Grant Program.
The state’s separate $10 million COVID-19 Instructional Restoration Profit Program gives as much as $7,000 in vouchers to assist households go away districts if their baby’s college requires face masks.
The Treasury Division argues that the way in which Arizona’s college packages are at present structured is an “ineligible” use of the federal pandemic support.
“By discouraging households and faculty districts from following (the CDC’s) steerage, the circumstances referenced above undermine efforts to cease the unfold of COVID-19,” the Treasury Division wrote in its letter.
Treasury officers stated they may begin recovering the federal aid cash Arizona has already been despatched, and can withhold the following lot of support, if the state doesn’t amend the provisions.
Arizona has already acquired about half of the $4.2 billion the state was awarded below President Biden’s $1.9 trillion aid bundle.
Gov. Ducey slammed the Biden administration on Friday, saying the threats to withhold support from his state was “newest instance of a President that’s utterly out of contact with the American folks.”
“On the subject of schooling, President Biden desires to proceed specializing in masks. In Arizona, we’re going to give attention to math and getting youngsters caught up after a yr of studying loss,” he tweeted.
“We are going to reply to this letter, and we’ll proceed to give attention to issues that matter to Arizonans. President Biden ought to do the identical, and he can begin by addressing the disaster on the border.”
Gov. Ducey is amongst a handful of GOP governors who’ve ripped Biden over federal masks, testing or vaccine mandates throughout the pandemic.
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