Broward officials defend $140M COVID relief hotel

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Some Republicans uncovered it egregious that $140 million of federal governing administration support was applied for a 29-tale luxurious hotel.

The money for the 800-room resort at the county-owned Bigger Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Centre arrive from the $350 billion American Rescue Plan, also regarded as the COVID-19 Stimulus Deal.

“It’s difficult to picture how a 4-star hotel is assisting fund the discomfort of COVID,” lately claimed Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who required to set more restrictions on how the plan’s cash was expended.

Broward County commissioners discovered a way to make the COVID reduction lodge legal and responded to criticism with a assertion on Friday. Monica Cepero, the county’s administrator and not an elected formal, released the county’s protection.

Cepero explained the lodge task “clearly” meets this guidance: A receiver of federal cash from the American Rescue Plan Act may perhaps deliver assist for “a prepared enlargement or update of tourism, journey and hospitality facilities delayed owing to the pandemic.”

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The hotel was amid the initiatives the Linked Push identified as “spending disasters” simply because of “permissive” Treasury Division regulations.

Liz Bourgeois, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Division, advised The Linked Press the funds are intended to enable regional governments to “recover from economic distress” and “achieve their have techniques for restoring careers.”

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Examine the Wednesday story: Pandemic relief cash used on resort, ballpark, ski slopes

Check out the Thursday report

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Broward County officers allotted about $140 million in COVID-relief resources to establish a new Conference Middle lodge.

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