Labor Department Says It Clawed Back More Than $1 Billion in Unspent COVID Funds

The agency, which says it is looking to recover another $2.9 billion, said that those funds will be returned to taxpayers.

Then-Labor Department nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, on Feb. 19, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

More than $1 billion in unused COVID-19 pandemic-era funding will be returned to taxpayers five years after it was allocated by Congress, the Labor Department announced.

The $1.4 billion will be sent back to taxpayers via the Treasury Department’s General Fund, the Labor Department said in a March 31 statement, noting that it is seeking to recover another $2.9 billion.