Mississippi received $1,250,000,000 in federal CARES Act funds, but only a fraction has been used. The Department of Education has received $200,000,000, but according to the state auditor's website, none of it has been spent. State and federal law does dictate where the money can be spent, and some agencies are still working through the legal process on how to use it. Speaker of the House Philip Gunn says legislators will be reassessing allocations of the funds to determine if the money could be used elsewhere. “There’s been talk about the federal government loosening up some of those restrictions, but I’m not aware that that’s happened yet. The time’s drawing to a close here,” says Gunn. “We’ve got until December 30 to do something, and we’re basically here almost at the first of October. So either the federal government’s going to have to extend that deadline or some decisions like that are going to have to be made sooner than later.”
Gunn, who was speaking virtually to reporters during the Stennis Press Forum, says extra funds can not go into the state's budget for next year, or make up for this year's losses. One option the state does have is investing in the unemployment trust fund. Speaker Gunn says this program was hurt by high unemployment rates at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. “The unemployment fund was hit pretty hard. Before the pandemic, I think the number was $750,000,000 in the trust fund, I think it’s down to $450,000,000 now. Obviously, we would like to get that back up if we could. So if we have that money, we’ll look at dumping some of it back in that trust fund,” says Gunn.
Gunn, who led the effort in changing the state flag, says he is supportive of the "In God We Trust Flag" that will appear on the November ballot.
