evidence: Republican and White House negotiators agreed to claw back approximately $27 billion in funding to federal agencies intended to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The federal COVID emergency officially ended earlier this month, and the unspent funds were an early area of agreement for negotiators trying to avoid a debt default after President Biden said publicly he would be open to looking at what could be given back. [...] Unspent COVID dollars have long been a target of Republicans who questioned administration's requests for more funds, arguing the nearly $5 trillion spent on pandemic relief was excessive and helped drive inflation. [...] Negotiators did not rescind all unspent COVID funding.