R46491 Tracking Covid Spending
Summary
Congressional Research Service Report R46491, Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending, updated May 13, 2025 and prepared by two CRS senior research librarians. The report lists selected government and nongovernmental sources for tracking COVID-19 relief and assistance spending. It describes consolidated data from USAspending.gov, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). It then covers sources by type of recipient, including the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which it states provided $150 billion, Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds totaling $350 billion, emergency rental assistance, and SBA data on EIDL and Paycheck Protection Program loans. The report closes with other nongovernmental trackers and author information.
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Resources for Tracking Federal
COVID-19 Spending
Updated May 13, 2025
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R46491
SUMMARY
R46491
Resources for Tracking Federal
May 13, 2025
COVID-19 Spending Jennifer Teefy
Congress has responded to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with Senior Research Librarian
supplemental appropriations measures providing relief and assistance to individuals and families,
state and local governments, businesses, health care providers, and other entities. For more Maria Kreiser
information, see CRS Report R46474, Laws Enacted in Response to COVID-19: Resources for Senior Research Librarian
Congressional Offices, by Meredith Sund.
This report provides selected sources for tracking COVID-19 relief and assistance spending. It
contains links to and information on government sources detailing spending amounts at various
levels, including consolidated spending by multiple government agencies, spending by individual government agencies, and
spending by recipient types and geographies. The sources themselves are large government databases, individual agencies,
oversight entities, and selected nongovernmental entities that attempt to repackage information on spending amounts
obtained from available government sources.
Due to the continually evolving nature of information provided by sources that track federal COVID-19 spending, this report
may be updated frequently. Data currency varies among sources.
For general information on resources for tracking federal funds, see CRS Report R44027, Tracking Federal Awards:
USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources, by Jennifer Teefy.
Congressional Research Service
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
Contents
Consolidated Data on COVID-19 Funding ..................................................................................... 1
USAspending.gov ..................................................................................................................... 1
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) ......................................................... 1
Government Accountability Office (GAO) ............................................................................... 2
COVID-19 Funding by Type of Recipient ...................................................................................... 2
Selected Programs for State and Local Governments ............................................................... 2
Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations .................................................................................. 5
Small Business Administration (SBA) Programs ............................................................... 5
Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve Programs ............................................... 6
Individuals ................................................................................................................................. 7
HHS’s Provider Relief Fund and Other Programs........................................................................... 7
Other Resources .............................................................................................................................. 7
Contacts
Author Information.......................................................................................................................... 8
Congressional Research Service
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
Consolidated Data on COVID-19 Funding
USAspending.gov
USAspending.gov tracks federal contract and grant awards, loans, direct payments, and other
federal assistance at the state, congressional district, and local levels. As mandated by an Office
of Management and Budget memorandum, federal agencies must identify specific COVID-19
spending in their reporting for the database. It provides a description of known data limitations,
which explains that data by location for some programs are not fully reported in
USAspending.gov, such as the Department of the Treasury’s economic impact payments and the
Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) Provider Relief Fund. Users can view
COVID-19 spending data through the following features:
• COVID-19 Profile Page provides a snapshot in time of the federal funding
response to COVID-19. The first graphic shows the total amount of COVID-19
funds that have been made available, the amount that have been obligated, the
amount that have been paid out, and the total remaining, or unobligated, balance.
It includes details on total obligations and outlays by agency, federal accounts,
and object classes. An interactive map shows obligations and outlays through
grants, contracts, loans, and other assistance by state. Users can also see
obligations and outlays through different award types by agency and by
assistance listing, or program. These data are updated monthly, and there is
generally a currency lag time of one month.
• Award Search enables searching awards and other assistance by either place of
performance or recipient location and includes a filter for “Disaster Emergency
Fund Code (DEFC).” The DEFC filter includes the option for searching all
COVID-19-related awards and expands to allow further filtering by specific
funding bill. Many other search criteria are available, including for specific
COVID-19 programs under the assistance listing filter. The search results table
contains columns showing COVID-19 obligations and outlays for each award.
Agencies must report awards data monthly, and new data are posted to the site
daily.
For general information on USAspending.gov, including searching tips, see CRS In Focus
IF10231, Tracking Federal Awards in States and Congressional Districts Using
USAspending.gov, by Jennifer Teefy.
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC)
PRAC is a federal entity created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
(CARES Act; P.L. 116-136),1 presents COVID-19 funding data from USAspending.gov and other
sources through a variety of interactive visual displays. The “Data & Interactive Tools” page
features the following:
• Funding Overview provides interactive graphics showing funding by legislation
and spending category, such as state, local, and tribal governments, health care,
and education.
1 The CARES Act created two additional oversight entities: (1) the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery
(SIGPR), at https://www.sigpr.gov/ and (2) the Congressional Oversight Commission, at https://coc.senate.gov/.
Congressional Research Service 1
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
• Interactive Dashboards include several portals through which to view funding
data. The All Pandemic Awards dashboard presents obligation and spending
data in graphs and tables from various perspectives, including “Where is the
money being spent?,” “Who is spending the money?,” and “How is the money
being spent?” Users can also filter the data by agency, location (i.e., country,
state, county, city, and zip code), program, award type, or keyword. The Federal
Agency Information dashboard provides a high-level view of spending by
agency. Additional dashboards containing awards by specific programs, such as
the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and the
Provider Relief Fund are described below under the sections “COVID-19
Funding by Type of Recipient” and “HHS’s Provider Relief Fund and Other
Programs.”
• Interactive Map allows users to view award data by geographic area (state,
county, congressional district, and zip code), award amount, and funding type.
The map’s zoom tool enables users to focus on data for individual zip codes.
• Data Exports tool allows users to filter data by agency, location, assistance
listing, award type, or keyword and provides several downloading options by
category.
PRAC also provides graphics showing the distribution of funds by major category for pandemic
relief enacted in Divisions M and N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260)
and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2).
PRAC’s website is integrated with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and
Efficiency’s website, the federal inspector general community’s oversight and coordination body.
For more information, see CRS Insight IN11343, The Pandemic Response Accountability
Committee: Organization and Duties, by Ben Wilhelm.
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
The CARES Act required GAO to report on its ongoing monitoring and oversight efforts related
to the COVID-19 pandemic. GAO issues periodic, detailed reports that include updates on the
allocation of obligated funds within categories such as relief for health care providers, COVID-19
testing, unemployment insurance, housing protections, and education. The reports are listed on
GAO’s Coronavirus Oversight page and include tables showing total budgetary resources, total
obligations, and total expenditures in broad categories as well as further details on programs
within these categories in the appendixes and enclosures.
COVID-19 Funding by Type of Recipient
Selected Programs for State and Local Governments
Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF)
The CARES Act created the CRF, which provided $150 billion in direct assistance to state,
territorial, local, and tribal governments based on population. See CRS Report R46990, General
State and Local Fiscal Assistance and COVID-19: Eligible Purposes, Allocations, and Use Data,
by Grant A. Driessen. For CRF allocations by state, territory, and government type, see Table 1.
Congressional Research Service 2
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
PRAC provides a dashboard featuring tools for tracking CRF awards to prime recipients and
money spent to-date for sub-recipients by state, territory, county, and zip code. Summary data by
prime recipient is also provided in a spreadsheet, which contains details on percentages of funds
spent by recipients through June 30, 2022.
Additionally, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides descriptions of and
links to state CRF oversight plans and a database detailing state CRF actions.
Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds
ARPA provided Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) totaling $350
billion in assistance to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. Treasury provides data on
allocations for
• states,
• non-entitlement units and the status of these payments (data available only in
aggregate at the state level),2
• territories,
• counties, and
• metropolitan cities.3
Treasury also provides access to recipients’ self-reported data on usage of fiscal recovery funds
for specific projects. The largest recipients submit quarterly data,4 whereas smaller recipients
report annually.5 Treasury does not release tribal governments’ reporting information due to
privacy considerations. Reports with quarterly and annual data can be found on the SLFRF Public
Data page.
PRAC provides a dashboard containing interactive tools through which to view fiscal recovery
fund spending data. Users can filter by state and keyword and view data on where and how
funding has been spent through interactive graphs and tables. Data can also be downloaded.
Several nongovernment sources also track ARPA fiscal recovery funds at the state and local
levels. NCSL created a database to enable tracking obligations and expenditures of these funds by
state using information in legislation and executive orders. Additionally, the National League of
Cities, in partnership with the National Association of Counties and the Brookings Institution,
created a Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker using recipients’ self-reported data to
Treasury. The tool features filtering options for viewing data by location and type of expenditure.
For more information, see the following CRS products: CRS Report R46990, General State and
Local Fiscal Assistance and COVID-19: Eligible Purposes, Allocations, and Use Data, by Grant
A. Driessen; CRS Insight IN11665, The American Rescue Plan Act, Section 9901—The
Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund, by Grant A. Driessen; and CRS Insight IN11664, The
American Rescue Plan Act, Section 9901—The Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, by
Grant A. Driessen.
2 See https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/state-and-
local-fiscal-recovery-fund/non-entitlement-units for the definition of “non-entitlement unit.”
3 See https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Allocation-Methodology-for-MetropolitanCities-508A.pdf for the
definition of “metropolitan city.”
4 States, territories, metro cities and counties with a population of more than 250,000 or an award over $10 million.
5 Metro cities and counties with populations less than 250,000 and allocations under $10 million.
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Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP)
The ERAP makes funding available to assist households that are unable to pay rent or utilities.
Two separate programs have been established: (1) ERA1 provides up to $25 billion under the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and (2) ERA2 provides up to $21.55 billion under ARPA.
The funds are provided directly to states, U.S. territories, local governments, and (in the case of
ERA1) Indian tribes.
The Department of the Treasury provided initial data on payments to states and eligible units of
local government and to tribes and tribally designated housing entities under ERA1. Treasury also
provided initial data on state, local government, and territory allocations under ERA2 and
provides updated data on ERA 1 and 2 reallocations.
Additionally, Treasury provides cumulative quarterly aggregated assistance data reported by
grantees, including by state, county, and city.
For more information, see CRS Report R46688, Pandemic Relief: The Emergency Rental
Assistance Program, by Grant A. Driessen, Maggie McCarty, and Libby Perl.
Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF)
The HAF was established to prevent mortgage delinquencies and defaults, foreclosures, loss of
utilities or home energy services, and displacement of homeowners experiencing financial
hardship after January 21, 2020. The Treasury provides data on allocations from this program by
state (including the District of Columbia) and territory. Quarterly reporting by participants can be
found on the HAF Reporting site under “Program Data Reported by Participants.” For more
information on the HAF, see CRS Report R46830, The Homeowner Assistance Fund in the
American Rescue Plan Act: In Brief, by Katie Jones.
State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)
ARPA provided $10 billion to fund the SSBCI, which will, in turn, fund state, territory, and tribal
government small business credit support and investment programs. The Treasury has posted
information on allocations for states, territories, the District of Columbia, and tribal governments
(in aggregate). Treasury posts quarterly reports in the “News and Announcements” section of the
SSBCI site that show funds deployed by state. For more information on the SSBCI and data on
program allocations by state, see CRS Report R42581, State Small Business Credit Initiative:
Implementation and Funding Issues, by Robert Jay Dilger, Grant A. Driessen, and Adam G.
Levin.
Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CCPF)
The CCPF provides $10 billion in payments to eligible governments to carry out critical capital
projects that directly enable work, education, and health monitoring, including remote options, in
response to coronavirus pandemic. Treasury provides information on allocations for states and
territories and Freely Associated States. This provision allocated tribal governments and the State
of Hawaii (for Native Hawaiian programs) equal shares of $167,504.
Treasury also reports aggregated CCPF award amounts for each state, territory, and Freely
Associated State as well as for tribal governments.
For more information on the CCPF, see CRS Report R46990, General State and Local Fiscal
Assistance and COVID-19: Eligible Purposes, Allocations, and Use Data, by Grant A. Driessen.
Congressional Research Service 4
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
Unemployment Compensation
Several unemployment relief measures were enacted in response to COVID-19. The Department
of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration provides updated data on funding by state
through each of these programs.
Municipal Liquidity Facility
The Federal Reserve (Fed) established the Municipal Liquidity Facility to help state and local
governments better manage cash flow pressures in order to continue to serve households and
businesses in their communities. See more about this and other Fed programs in the next section,
“Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations.”
State and local budget offices may also be resources for information related to COVID-19
spending; publicly available information may vary from one jurisdiction to another.
Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations
Small Business Administration (SBA) Programs
The Small Business Administration periodically publishes reports and data on its programs,
including data on approved loans and other assistance for programs supporting disaster assistance
and recovery:
• Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). SBA provides program reports with
summary data on the number and amounts of approved EIDL loans and EIDL
Advances (or Emergency EIDL grants) by state through 2022, as well as more
detailed data through December 2020, including borrowers’ names, loan
amounts, addresses, and congressional districts.
• Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). SBA provides data at different levels of
detail, including data on all PPP loans of $150,000 and above and on loans of less
than $150,000, with borrowers’ names, loan amounts, addresses, and
congressional districts. Summary data, including loan totals by state, are
provided through weekly reports, the latest one having been posted on May 31,
2021. Another data source is PRAC’s PPP interactive dashboard, which features
interactive graphics and filtering options for tracking PPP loan data by country,
state, county, city, and zip code.
Periodic reports with data on both EIDL and PPP assistance, including additional
analysis and graphics showing loan distribution by state, industry, and
demographic characteristics, are also available from SBA. The latest of these
reports was posted on May 24, 2021.
• Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). SBA’s SVOG program provides
emergency assistance for eligible venues affected by COVID-19. Eligible
participants include live venue operators or promoters, theatrical producers, live
performing arts organizations, and other entities. SBA provides data on SVOG
awards by venue type and state as well as information on individual recipients,
including grant amounts and addresses through July 5, 2022. PRAC’s Interactive
Dashboards page also includes a site for SVOG data. Users can filter by state,
city, or zip code, and by keyword to view funding amounts by venue type
through an interactive graphic. Details on each grant are also provided in table
format, which can be downloaded.
Congressional Research Service 5
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
• Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF). SBA’s RRF grant program provides
emergency assistance for eligible restaurants, bars, and other qualifying
businesses affected by COVID-19. SBA provides data on RRF grant approvals
through June 30, 2021, by state and territory and by restaurant type as well as
data on individual recipients, including addresses, congressional districts, and
grant amounts. PRAC’s Interactive Dashboard page also includes a site for RRF
data. Users can filter by state, city, or zip code, and by keyword to view funding
amounts by the categories of women-owned, socially and/or economically
disadvantaged, and veteran-owned. Details on each grant are also provided in
table format, which can be downloaded.
For information on programs supporting small businesses that are administered from other federal
agencies, see CRS Insight IN11301, Small Businesses and COVID-19: Relief and Assistance
Resources, by Maria Kreiser.
Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve Programs
• Treasury’s Payroll Support Program supports passenger air carriers, cargo air
carriers, and certain contractors for continuing payment of employee wages,
salaries, and benefits. Treasury provides data tables on payments to recipients by
city and state.6 There are separate tables for recipients of funds under the CARES
Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and ARPA.
• Treasury’s Loan Program provides loans to passenger air carriers, cargo air
carriers, and businesses critical to national security. Full loan transaction details,
including the borrower’s city and state, are posted on the Treasury website.7
• Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS)
Program was established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 to
support transportation service providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,
including motorcoach, school bus, passenger vessel, and pilotage companies.
Treasury provides tables for each form of transportation showing amounts
received by companies within these categories. Comprehensive data are also
available in spreadsheet form.
• The Federal Reserve (Fed) had access to CARES Act funds to provide
emergency funding, credit, liquidity, and loans to businesses as well as nonprofit
organizations (through the Main Street Lending Program).8 Click on each of
these programs to view reporting and, in some cases, transaction-specific
disclosures with borrowers’ names and locations.
For information on Treasury- and Fed-facilitated business assistance programs, see CRS Report
R46329, Treasury and Federal Reserve Financial Assistance in Title IV of the CARES Act (P.L.
116-136), coordinated by Andrew P. Scott; and CRS Insight IN11368, Larger Businesses and
COVID-19: Financial Relief and Assistance Resources, by Julie Jennings.
6 The borrower’s location is the address from its application and may not include all locations in which the recipient
operates.
7 The borrower’s location is the address from its application and may not include all locations in which the recipient
operates.
8 These programs have ended. See CRS Insight IN11368, Larger Businesses and COVID-19: Financial Relief and
Assistance Resources, by Julie Jennings for more information.
Congressional Research Service 6
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
Individuals
Several COVID-19 measures provided economic relief to individuals and families through direct
economic impact payments. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides statistics on the first,
second, and third rounds of payments (made through the CARES Act the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021, and ARPA, respectively) by adjusted gross income, state, and filing
status. For more information, see CRS Report R46415, COVID-19 and Direct Payments:
Overview and Resources, coordinated by Margot L. Crandall-Hollick.
Additionally, ARPA included an advanced child tax credit through which families received
monthly payments. The IRS provides statistics on this credit by adjusted gross income, state, and
filing status.
The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) has produced estimates of the advanced child tax credit
payments by congressional district. For each district in 2021, the JEC provides the estimated
cumulative total payment amount, the total number of payments received, and the total number of
children who were eligible to receive the benefit.
For more information on the advanced child tax credit, see CRS Report R46900, The Expanded
Child Tax Credit for 2021: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), by Margot L. Crandall-Hollick.
HHS’s Provider Relief Fund and Other Programs
COVID-19 award data for several HHS programs are not tracked to the state and local levels on
USAspending.gov, including
• Provider Relief Fund,
• Rural Health Clinic (RHC) Testing & Mitigation,
• Uninsured Relief Fund, and
• Coverage Assistance Fund.
HHS instead provides data by recipient, state, and city for these programs through the above
links. These sites enable tracking through an interactive table and downloading of data into
different formats, including spreadsheets and PDFs.
PRAC also provides a Provider Relief Fund dashboard, which allows filtering of data by city and
state and includes interactive visual displays of the data.
Other Resources
Federal agency websites may be resources for information on specific COVID-19 awards; the
amount and format of available information varies from agency to agency. As an example, the
Department of Education site provides funding and spending data by state from the Education
Stabilization Fund (ESF) and further breaks the data down by programs under the ESF.9
9 These programs include (1) a Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, which includes the Emergency
Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) program; (2) an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
(ESSER) Fund; and (3) a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEER). For more information, see CRS Report
R47027, Education Stabilization Fund Programs Funded by the CARES Act, CRRSAA, and ARPA: Background and
Analysis, by Rebecca R. Skinner, Joselynn H. Fountain, and Cassandria Dortch.
Congressional Research Service 7
Resources for Tracking Federal COVID-19 Spending
The following resources offer additional perspectives on a wide range of COVID-19 funding.
CRS has not independently verified the data provided by these sources.
• Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s COVID Money Tracker
features papers, blogs, spreadsheets, data visualizations, and an interactive
database for tracking funds.
• Project on Government Oversight’s COVID-19 relief spending tracker
includes an interactive map showing spending by state, county, and zip code, as
well as population breakdowns by race and ethnicity and unemployment rates at
each geographic level. Users can also filter data in table format by location,
recipient, award type, industry, and program.
• Rockefeller Institute of Government’s COVID-19 State Relief Dashboard is an
interactive tool for viewing state allocation data for programs such as CRF and
PPP.
• ProPublica tracks COVID-19-related contracts by product or service; vendor
name, type and state; total money obligated; and agency.
• Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS) is a subscription-only service
attempting to track federal funding to states—including funding from the
COVID-19 relief bills. Many state governments subscribe to FFIS. Information is
limited for nonsubscribers.
Author Information
Jennifer Teefy Maria Kreiser
Senior Research Librarian Senior Research Librarian
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not
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its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or
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