Blumenthal Applauds Passage of the American Rescue Plan Act

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released the following statement after the House of Representatives approved the American Rescue Plan Act, sending the final bill to the president’s desk for signature:

“The American Rescue Plan Act will put money in people’s pockets and shots in their arms. It makes major investments in vaccine distribution, frontline health workers, small businesses, and local school districts, but its value is even greater than the $1.9 trillion it will pour back into our communities. The American Rescue Plan reinforces a social safety net that has been shredded by years of indifference and neglect, and makes a historic commitment to the American families that have struggled to keep the lights on for far, far too long. I am incredibly proud of Democratic leaders in Congress and the Biden Administration for this major achievement. Our work isn’t over, but this legislation just gave us a huge lift.”

Supporting Local Communities:

The American Rescue Plan Act includes $360 billion in state and local aid. Connecticut is expected to receive more than $4 billion in emergency state and local aid funding.

Transit agencies will receive more than $30 billion of additional relief funding to protect jobs and prevent cuts to transit services. Through this program, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is expected to receive $6.5 billion in relief funding. In addition, the following Connecticut communities are expected to receive support for public transit: Bridgeport-Stamford, more than $87 million; Danbury, more than $76 million; Hartford, nearly $72 million; New Haven, nearly $121 million; Norwich-New London, more than $1.5 million; and Waterbury, nearly $80 million.

The bill also includes $8 billion in relief funding for airports and airport concessionaires and $3 billion in relief for the workforce of the aviation manufacturing industry.

Libraries will receive $200 million in funding to safely open and provide community residents from accessible Wi-Fi, education resources, and workforce development opportunities.

The bill adds $15 billion in new funding to the Targeted EIDL Advance grant program to support businesses in low-income communities and provides an additional $7 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program while also expanding eligibility to include additional non-profits. Connecticut small businesses and entities have already been approved for nearly $9 billion in forgivable loans through the PPP program.

The American Rescue Plan Act includes $1.25 billion in additional funding for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program.

Under a grant program based on the one created by the RESTAURANTS Act, the restaurant industry will receive $28.6 billion in direct relief.

The relief package includes a major $7 billion investment to close the Homework Gap through providing broadband funding for students to expand internet access and support ongoing remote learning, even as schools look to reopen safely. The program also includes a Senate-led $10 billion Critical Infrastructure Projects program to support states in building internet infrastructure to expand broadband access, improve telehealth, and strengthen educational initiatives.

The bill includes $300 million in relief for local firefighters through two separate FEMA grant programs and will help ensure that fire departments have the help they need to expand access to PPE, pay firefighters for sick leave and overtime.

Fighting the Pandemic:

The American Rescue Plan Act contains $20 billion to improve vaccine administration and distribution, including:

• $7.5 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prepare, promote, administer, monitor, and track COVID-19 vaccines;
• $1 billion for CDC to educate the public on COVID-19 vaccines and their safety and effectiveness, strengthening confidence in the vaccines;
• $5.2 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to bolster the vaccine and therapeutic supply chain through research, development, manufacturing, production, and purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments;

The legislation provides $48.3 billion for ongoing efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including testing, contact tracing, and PPE for frontline health workers.

The American Rescue Plan Act invests in the health workers who have been on the front lines fighting this health crisis and includes $7.66 billion to bolster the public health workforce and COVID-19 response.

The American Rescue Plan includes $7.6 billion for community health centers to support frontline health care workers and help address health disparities.

The American Rescue Plan Act provides $3.88 billion to expand accessibility to mental health and substance use disorder treatment services.

The American Rescue Plan Act provides $10 billion to utilize the Defense Production Act and expand domestic production of PPE, vaccines, and other medical supplies.

Helping American Families, Workers, and Consumers:

Americans who have been hardest hit by the pandemic will receive a $1,400 direct payment to supplement the $600 check they received in December. More than 2 million Connecticut adults and nearly 740,000 Connecticut children are expected to benefit.

The legislation extends the critical lifeline of enhanced unemployment insurance through the first week of September, ensuring that workers relying on these benefits continue to receive the additional $300 federal unemployment insurance bump. If the emergency unemployment programs were to end, an estimated 166,462 workers in Connecticut would lose their enhanced benefits.

The bill provides $4.5 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program and $500 million for low-income water assistance.

The American Rescue Plan Act extends the 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits until September to help American families continue to put food on their table. The bill also extends the Pandemic EBT program, which helps families that rely on school meals by providing them with the value of those missed school breakfasts and lunches. In Connecticut, food insecurity increased by an alarming 28 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic. An estimated 545,000 people – one in seven, including 164,000 children – in the state are at risk of hunger.

The American Rescue Plan includes $21.55 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance; of which Connecticut is expected to receive $187 million . The legislation also provides $5 billion in emergency housing vouchers and $5 billion to help communities provide support services for people experiencing homelessness.

The bill also provides $400 million for the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program to support homeless services providers for overnight shelter, meals, assistance to food banks and pantries, one month's rental or mortgage assistance to prevent evictions, and one month's utility payments to prevent service cut-offs.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will receive $50 million to help the agency inspect and monitor unsafe consumer products.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tracked a record 4.7 million consumer complaints, including more than 365,000 reports of fraud, identify theft, and other scams relating to the pandemic. This bill includes $30.4 million to enhance the FTC’s ongoing enforcement efforts cracking down on COVID-19 scams.

Investing in Child Care, Schools, and Students:

More than $125 billion is made available to public K-12 schools – including an expected $1.1 billion for Connecticut – to help them open for in-person learning and address learning loss, and support students’ long-term academic, social, and emotional needs. Nearly $32 million of this funding will be made available in Connecticut to support the specific needs of students with disabilities through the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

Colleges and universities will receive $39.6 billion – including an expected $371 million for Connecticut schools – to fund emergency financial aid grants and support students cover basic needs like food, housing, and health care. The funding will also be available to help higher education institutions address increased costs resulting from the transition to online learning, facilities’ closure, and COVID-19 testing, vaccination, PPE, and classroom retrofits.

The legislation includes $39 billion for child care, including nearly $24 billion for Child Care Stabilization grants and nearly $15 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. Connecticut is expected to receive approximately $277 million of this funding, which can be used to support qualified child care providers that are either open or temporarily closed to help support their operations during the pandemic.

Head Start programs will also receive support through this legislation to ensure that low-income families and at-risk children have access to the educational and nutritional support they need, including an estimated $6.7 million in support for Head Start programs in Connecticut.

Veterans

The Senate American Rescue Plan includes $272 million to help the VA mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the benefits claims and appeals backlog by increasing staff overtime, expanding Veterans Benefits Administration-funded scanning of service records, and improving scheduling of hearings.

The legislation provides nearly $14.5 billion for VA to provide health care services and related support to eligible veterans. This includes funding to cover the impacts of delays in care, more expensive care being needed as a result of putting off needed care, and greater reliance on VA due to economic impacts from the pandemic. This funding will also sustain the CARES Act-supported staffing and service level expansions, including suicide prevention, Women's Health, and enhancements for VA homelessness programs and telehealth expansion.

The American Rescue Plan provides $386 million for up to 12 months of retraining assistance for veterans who are unemployed due to COVID-19 and do not receive other veteran education benefits.

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