Tennessee outlines how federal COVID relief and ARPA funds were spent, flags projects at risk of underspend

The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration told the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Oct. 28, 2025, that CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act funding stabilized state services during the COVID-19 crisis and later was redirected to long‑term infrastructure, education and health projects.

The overview presented by Deputy Commissioner Eugene Neubert and State Budget Director David Thurman laid out the two‑phase use of federal relief: quick relief delivered through CARES Act dollars, and longer‑term capacity building with ARPA funding. "We've seen a global pandemic. We've had economic uncertainty," Neubert said during the department's opening remarks as he described the state's approach.

Why it matters: The state's stewardship of federal relief influences whether Tennessee keeps tens or hundreds of millions of dollars authorized by Congress. Committee members pressed F&A staff about projects that had incurred little or no expenditures yet and…