- Is COVID-19 relief money helping to pay for Abbott's Operation Lone Star?

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to shuffle $500 million from several state agencies to plug a yawning shortfall in his border operation has sparked assertions that federal COVID-19 relief money is being used to fill in the gap.

Seven Democratic members of Congress this week asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to examine whether Abbott is flouting federal rules governing how money sent to the states can be used to cover such pandemic-related expenses as "premium pay" for essential workers so the governor's multibillion-dollar initiative remains afloat.

Operation Lone Star has sent thousands of National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the border to assist in detaining migrants crossing illegally.

In a letter to the heads of those departments, Abbott along with House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the agencies' "appropriations have been fully funded with other sources. Thus this transfer will not affect any agency or program function."

But in the letter to Yellen, the Democrats said they were "concerned that this relief funding will be misappropriated" to support Operation Lone Star. The letter was signed by Castro, Veronica Escobar of El Paso, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Mark Veasy of Fort Worth, Colin Allred of Dallas, and Sheila Jackson Lee, Al Green, Sylvia Garcia and Lizzie Fletcher, all of Houston.

When lawmakers began crafting the budget for the two-year cycle that began last September, the shadow of the pandemic-inspired economic slowdown cast a cloud over their deliberations. The flow of federal cash helped stave off steep cuts in spending.