LINCOLN- The battle reignited Friday over whether Nebraska should accept more federal emergency rental aid, with the U.S. Treasury Department stepping into the fray.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo wrote a letter to Gov. Pete Ricketts, expressing his disappointment and urging the governor to draw down on the $120 million accounts Congress had set aside for Nebraska on behalf of “tens of thousands” of households in need of assistance.

Adeyemo said many of Nebraska’s state legislators, leaders, and housing advocates have underscored the “significant need … especially in rural areas and small communities that do not have access to other rental assistance programs within the state.”

“That need clearly exists in Nebraska,” Adeyemo wrote. “According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 21% of Nebraska renters are extremely low income, and 65% of this group are severely cost-burdened.”

A Ricketts spokeswoman said Friday afternoon that the governor had received the correspondence and planned to respond next week with his own letter “reiterating that this reckless federal spending is the cause of inflation, not the solution.”

The governor has stood firm for months on his refusal to accept the funds. He has said that the pandemic storm is over and that Nebraska should guard against becoming a “welfare state.”

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