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American Rescue Plan #HelpIsHere

The American Rescue Plan is delivering on Congressional Democrat's and President Joe Biden's promise to speed help to the American people. Since President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11, 2021, COVID vaccinations are up, cases and hospitalizations are down, and unemployment is at its lowest since the health crisis began.

Delivering Relief for Michiganders

The American Rescue Plan is a big win for Michiganders. This historic package includes critical funding to fund the frontlines, help struggling individuals and families, and get kids into schools.

  • $6.6 billion in state fiscal relief
  • $4 billion in local fiscal relief
  • More than $3.814 billion in relief for K-12 schools
  • Economic impact payments of up to $1,400 per person for 89% of all adults in the state and 87% of all children in the state.
  • Additional relief of up to $1,600 per child through the Child Tax Credit to the families of 1,970,000 children, lifting 117,000 children out of poverty
  • Additional relief of up to nearly $1,000 through the Earned Income Tax Credit to 603,000 childless workers, including many in frontline jobs
  • Marketplace health insurance premiums that are $943 lower per month for a 60-year old couple earning $75,000 per year

Getting Shots in Arms

American workers should not have to lie awake at night wondering if they’ll make it home from work safely the next day, or if they’ll bring home the virus home to their loved ones and communities. The American Rescue Plan has mounted a comprehensive vaccination plan to crush COVID - and it is working.

  • Invests $160 billion to provide the supplies, emergency response, testing, and public health workforce to stop the spread of COVID-19, while distributing vaccines as quickly as possible and addressing racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes. These emergency measures will help combat the heavy impacts of this virus and will deliver community based care.
  • Provides $130 billion to help schools serve all students, no matter where they are learning, and help achieve President Biden’s goal to safely open the majority of K-8 schools within the first 100 days of his Administration. These investments include funding to address the learning loss and social and emotional needs of students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities.

Putting Money in Pockets

COVID has impacted nearly every part of the U.S. economy and left millions of Americans in need of employment assistance. President Biden and Democrats in Congress promised to deliver robust relief to build back a better and more equitable economy quickly. Stimulus in the American Rescue Plan is heavily weighted to provide the most relief to low- and middle-income families over the rich that have faired best throughout the pandemic.

Economists have warned that going too small on recovery will result in a much slower return for the American economy. Whereas, the passing of the American Rescue Plan could return the U.S. to pre-pandemic employment by the end of 2021, getting Americans back to work and getting our economy back on track.

The American Rescue Plan invests $1 trillion towards building a bridge to economic recovery for working families. All told, a single parent with one young child making the minimum wage could see her income increase from the equivalent of $7.25 to around $11 per hour.

  • Gives working families a $1,400 per-person survival check, bringing their total relief payment from this and the December down payment to $2,000. More than 85% of households will receive a check and checks in this bill are bigger than the checks in the CARES Act or in the December bill. And, for the first time, adult dependents are entitled to a check as well. This means a lower or middle-income family of four will see an additional $5,600 in their pockets.
  • Extends current unemployment insurance benefits and eligibility to September 6 (saving 11 million Americans from losing benefits starting in about a week), at $300 per week, and help protect Americans from surprise tax bills on unemployment insurance they received last year.
  • Creates A $1 Billion Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund.

Keeping Food on Tables

The COVID pandemic has significantly increased food insecurity for many Americans. The American Rescue Plan authorizes critical investments in food security programs to help families keep food on the table.

  • Extends SNAP maximum benefits by 15 percent (through September 30, 2021)
  • Provides $1.1 billion in additional SNAP administrative funds to states to help meet the demand of increased caseloads and $25 million to improve the state SNAP online pilots
  • Allocates $800 million for WIC – supporting low-income women and infants – and temporarily boosts the value of WIC Cash Value Vouchers for vulnerable mothers and their children. The Senate-passed bill added WIC recipients with special dietary needs to the list of vulnerable individuals eligible for the increase in Cash Value Vouchers
  • Secures $37 million to cover food shortfalls in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program which seeks to improve the health and nutrition of low-income Americans over 60 years old through access to nutritious food.
  • Maintains and Expands the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) Program by investing more than $5 billion in P-EBT so that low-income families have access to school meals and food assistance during both the school year and summer months.
  • Expands Access to the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) by temporarily expanding the age of eligibility for CACFP at emergency homeless shelters to ensure more young adults can access needed nutrition support.

Ensuring Access to Affordable Child Care

Access to affordable child care is critical in helping families get back to work. The American Rescue Plan offers several key provisions to make child care more affordable and obtainable for families that have been hardest hit by the impacts of COVID.

  • Rescues the Child Care System from the Brink of Collapse by providing $39 billion through the Child Care and Development Block Grant for child care providers as the country reopens and provides financial relief for families struggling to cover tuition.
  • Makes a Number of Improvements in the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, for 2021 by making several improvements to the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for 2021, including increasing the amount of child and dependent care expenses that are eligible for the credit to $8,000 for one qualifying individual and $16,000 for two or more qualifying individuals (such that the maximum credits would now be $4,000 and $8,000).
  • Increases the Annual Funding Level for the Child Care Entitlement to States. Increases the annual funding level for the Child Care Entitlement to States, from $2.917 billion per year to $3.550 billion per year. Waives the state match requirement for funds for fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
  • Includes Critical Funding for Head Start by providing $1 billion for Head Start to equip facilities with the resources to safely stay open, buy PPE, technology and hire more staff and ensure families can continue to access quality early learning opportunities.

Expanding Health Care & Keeping Americans Covered

In the midst of a global pandemic, access to comprehensive health care has never been more important. The American Rescue Plan includes many key provisions to make health care more affordable for individuals and families.

  • Expands Subsidies in ACA Marketplaces to cover more middle-class families and to be more generous for those already receiving them, for 2021 and 2022. Specifically, it removes the current cap that makes any family with income above 400% of the poverty level ineligible for any subsidies. Under the bill, no one will have to pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for a silver plan in the ACA marketplaces. The Urban Institute estimates that these provisions could lead to 4.5 million more Americans gaining coverage.
  • Provides a new incentive for the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so by temporarily increasing the base Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) by five percentage points for two years for any state that newly expands. If all 12 remaining states expanded Medicaid, more than 2 million uninsured people would gain access to Medicaid.
  • Provides a 100% COBRA subsidy.

Ensuring Equitable Access to Care

Underserved communities have beared the brunt of the impacts of COVID, yet have consistently lacked equitable access to treatments and other health care services. The American Rescue Plan includes significant investments to ensure these communities are not left behind.

  • Provides $7.6 billion in funding to support COVID-19 response at Community Health Centers.
  • Provides an additional $3.5 billion for the Indian Health Service.
  • Provides $1.4 billion for Older Americans Act funding to support community-based and inhouse services for older adults struggling during the pandemic.
  • Provides $800 million to the National Health Service Corps to support primary care health and diversify our nation’s clinician workforce.
  • Provides $240 million to support the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program, which helps support nurses working in critical shortage and underserved areas.
  • Provides $330 million for Teaching Health Centers that train the medical professionals who serve our most vulnerable populations.
  • Provides $150 million for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program to improve the development, health and well-being of at-risk families with young children.
  • Includes a provision allowing states, for five years, to extend Medicaid eligibility to women for 12 months postpartum.

Keeping Families in Homes

The COVID pandemic has created a housing crisis, with millions of Americans unemployed or underemployed unable to afford rent and mortgage payments. The American Rescue Plan includes critical investments in housing assistance programs to keep individuals and families in their homes and keep the lights on.

  • Provides $27.5 billion for emergency rental assistance, to help ensure struggling families continue to have a safe place to live during this pandemic. Provides robust funding for rental assistance, including $22.5 billion for emergency rental and utility assistance to states, territories, counties, and cities to help stabilize renters during the pandemic, and help rental property owners of all sizes continue to cover their costs; $5 billion for emergency vouchers to transition those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, survivors of domestic violence, and victims of human trafficking to stable housing; $100 million for rural housing; $750 million for Native American housing; $100 million for housing counseling; and $20 million for fair housing.
  • Provides $10 billion for the Homeowner Assistance Fund that allocates funds to states, territories, and tribes to address the ongoing needs of homeowners struggling to afford their housing due directly or indirectly to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing direct assistance with mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, utilities, and other housing related costs.
  • Provides $4.75 billion for state and local governments – through the HOME Investment Partnership program – to finance supportive services, affordable housing and the acquisition of non-congregate shelter spaces for the hundreds of thousands of Americans experiencing homelessness during this pandemic.
  • Provides $5 billion to those most in need to help pay their utility bills.

Helping Small Businesses Recover

Our nation's small businesses have faced some of the toughest impacts of the COVID pandemic, and many - particularly minority communities and the smallest businesses - have been shutout of previous COVID-related small business programs. The American Rescue Plan includes vital investments in small business programs to ensure equitable access to benefits for the minority owned and smallest of businesses. Additionally, the relief package includes critical investments in the restaurant industry by creating the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

  • Increases Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Funding by including $7.25 billion in additional funding for PPP and expands eligibility of 501(c) nonprofits of all sizes and types, except for 501(c)4 lobbying organizations.
  • Creates a Restaurant Revitalization Fund at the SBA to offer assistance to restaurants and bars hard hit by the pandemic from $25 billion to $28.66 billion. $5 billion is set aside specifically for smaller establishments with less than $500,000 in 2019 annual revenue. During the first 21 days, applications from restaurants owned and operated by women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals will receive priority.
  • Supports small businesses by providing $15 billion for COVID-19 emergency grants through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
  • Establishes the Community Navigator Pilot Program to increase the awareness of and participation in COVID-19 relief programs for business owners currently lacking access, with priority for businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, women, and veterans
  • Provides $10 billion to support up to $100 billion in small business financing through state, territorial, and tribal government programs. Of this amount, $2.5 billion is dedicated for support to business enterprises owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, including minority owned businesses.

Keeping Frontline Essential Workers on the Job

The COVID pandemic has created budget crises for state and local governments due to significant drops in revenue and high costs of mitigating the virus. These budget shortfalls have forced many state and local governments to cut essential frontline employees and limit essential services. The American Rescue Plan provides significant investments in state and local governments to keep our nation's heroes on the job.

  • Provides $350 billion for new Coronavirus relief funds to help keep first responders, frontline health care workers, and other essential workers on the job. Since the pandemic began, 1.4 million of these types of workers have lost their jobs, due to the tight budgets caused by the high expenses and reduced revenues created by the pandemic.

Keeping Workers Safe

American workers deserve access to a clean, healthy work environment that puts worker health at the forefront. The American Rescue Plan works to strengthen workplace protections for workers and guarantees compensation for federal frontline workers who contract COVID.

  • Strengthens workplace protections for essential workers by providing $200 million to help continue UI oversight and OSHA enforcement.
  • Ensures workers’ compensation coverage for frontline federal workers by establishing a presumption that COVID-19 is work-related and authorizes eligibility for medical benefits, lost wages and survivor benefits for federal and postal workers.

Supporting Veterans & Servicemembers

Veterans and U.S. servicemembers have devoted themselves to keeping our nation safe at home and abroad, and many have been working on the frontlines of COVID to aid our nation in crushing this virus. The American Rescue Plan recognizes the many sacrifices of veterans and U.S. servicemembers by providing critical care, workforce training, and support for VA frontline and essential health care workers.

  • Ensures veterans will not have to pay for preventative treatment or services related to COVID-19 and authorizes the VA to reimburse veterans who already submitted payments for their care during this period.
  • Includes more than $14.5 billion for VA to provide health care services and other related supports – including suicide prevention, Women’s health services, telehealth expansion, medical facility improvements – to eligible veterans and allows up to $4 billion in spending for the Veterans Community Care Program.
  • Provides nearly $400 million for up to 12 months of retraining assistance for veterans who are unemployed as a result of the pandemic and do not have access to other veteran education benefits. This funding covers the cost of the rapid retraining program as well as a housing allowance for enrolled veterans.
  • Includes $272 million for the VA to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the benefits claims and appeals backlog.
  • Provides emergency paid sick leave for VA’s frontline and essential health workers.

Keeping Essential Travel Moving

Millions of Americans across the country depend on reliable public transportation to get to work and the grocery store, including frontline and essential workers. The American Rescue Plan recognizes the need for these means of transportation by making critical investments to keep transit workers on the job and keep the buses and trains running.

  • Invests in our nation’s transit systems hit hard by the Coronavirus Pandemic by including $30 billion for transit agencies across the country to prevent, prepare and respond to the continued threat of the pandemic.
  • Provides emergency assistance to airports and helps protect aviation industry jobs, which has already resulted in the cancellation of thousands of furlough notices sent to industry employees.

Credits:

Created with images by Daniel Thornberg - "US Capitol dome with American flag and dramatic sky behind" • Zoran Zeremski - "Close up of nurse hanks giving vaccine to patient in clinic." • Damir Khabirov - "Young african american couple doing paperwork together, planning family budget, calculating domestic expenses, sitting at kitchen table with laptop and calculator at home. Financial problems concept" • leszekglasner - "Happy african american family eating lunch together at restaurant and having fun" • Oksana Kuzmina - "Preschool teacher and cute kids boys playing in kindergarten" • Viacheslav Iakobchuk - "Immediate treatment. Enthusiastic vigorous male doctor sitting with boy while listening to plush bear and talking" • s_l - "Doctor and patient discussing something while sitting at the table . Medicine and health care concept. Doctor and patient" • Zarya Maxim - "Young beautiful happy family relaxing at home" • Graphicroyalty - "Small business owner with face mask holding the sign for the reopening of the place after the quarantine due to covid-19. Woman with protective mask holding sign we are open, support local business." • loreanto - "Portrait of a young woman doctor sitting on the ambulance resting exhausted where a first aid intervention during the Covid-19 pandemic, Coronavirus wearing a face mask - Rescue concept" • Blue Planet Studio - "Factory workers with face mask protect from outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 or COVID-19." • Pixel-Shot - "Happy military man with his family at home" • Maria Sbytova - "Mature man wearing disposable medical face mask in car of the subway in New York during coronavirus outbreak."