(Centre Square) – The $5 trillion spent by Congress on pandemic relief efforts has been so difficult to track that even some government investigators are baffled, according to a new report.

A new report from the Pandemic Response Accountability Commission tracked $2.65 billion in pandemic relief funds for six communities. “Data gaps make it difficult for taxpayers to know how much money their communities receive and for what purpose,” the report said. This $2.65 billion is part of a $5 trillion federal bailout given during the pandemic.

According to the Times, “existing gaps in federal spending data make it difficult for the oversight community, decision makers, and American taxpayers to fully understand where money is flowing and how it is being spent. It is said that report. “In addition, these gaps make it difficult for program officials who manage the funds to clearly understand the recipients and uses of the funds.”

The Pandemic Response Accountability Commission, established by lawmakers as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Security Act (part of the CARES Act), is the Inspector General’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency. The commission’s monitoring team visited six selected communities as part of the case study, including two small and medium-sized cities, two rural counties, and two Native American reservations. Her six communities studied were in Springfield, Massachusetts. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Sheridan County, Nebraska. Marion County, Georgia. White Earth Nation Reservation in Minnesota. and the Jikarrilla Apache Nation Reservation in New Mexico.

The research team found that the 10 federal agencies included in the study helped six communities through approximately 89 pandemic relief programs and subprograms during the first 18 months of the pandemic (March 2020 through September 2021). has provided nearly $2.65 billion in pandemic relief funding. The team used a mix of federal, state, and local data sources.

The team’s report found “persistent data gaps and data reliability issues.”

“In particular, the time, resources, and unpublished data required to identify the total amount of funds sent to the six communities indicate that it is difficult to fully understand the recipients and uses of the Federal Pandemic Relief Fund. There are,” said the paper. report. “This review further demonstrates the clear need for broader government action and immediate steps to improve transparency and accessibility of pandemic spending data.”

According to the team, tracking the funds was not easy.

“Sometimes the data was difficult to find or wasn’t available. We had to use data sources that were not accessible to the general public,” the brief said. “One of our partners had to access five internal databases to determine recipients in one program. There were also some.”