Why did CNN use was rather than were

[wperry3i]

I noticed this sentence on cnn.com today and wondered why they used singular past tense form of the verb to be rather than the plural.

"Eighty-five million dollars in goods meant for Katrina victims was given away to agencies by FEMA, a CNN investigation has found."

What rule am I missing?

[Anglika]

No rule.It is "was" because it is not the individual items that count in this sentence, but the overall concept of the donation.

[2006]

Expressions of time, money and distance usually take a singular verb. The subject in your sentence is 'eighty-five million dollars'.

'Eighty-five million dollars in (cash)(credit)(goods).........was........'

Five miles was too far to walk.

Four hours is not enough time.