Tennessee Receiving $2.7 Billion In Federal Relief Funds

Tennessee is receiving $2.7 billion in federal relief funds tomorrow. A large chunk of that funding from the CARES Act is designated for the Nashville and Memphis areas.  

Gov. Bill Lee announced that a bipartisan group of state legislators will be tasked with distributing the funds. He says the money comes with some guidelines from the federal government.  

“But there is a lot of detail that has yet to be delivered by the federal government,” said Lee. “And there’s a lot of work to do to assess these dollars and begin to make decisions about how they can be best spent.” 

Lee says the meetings of the state finance team will be open, and there will be “full transparency” on financial distribution. 

The relief comes as Lee has set a goal to reopen the Tennessee economy in May. He established the Economic Recovery Group, a joint effort between state leaders to safely oversee the process.

“COVID-19 has not only created a public health crisis, it has hurt thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of hardworking Tennesseans,” said Lee in a press release. “As we work to safely open Tennessee’s economy, this group will provide guidance to industries across the state on the best ways to get Tennesseans back to work.”