Heartland Alliance is pleased to see President Biden sign the American Rescue Plan Act into law.
This legislation represents a critical lifeline for cities, states, and tens of millions of people impacted by COVID-19. It is a critical and necessary response to the devastating crisis at hand.
A year into the pandemic, it is indisputable that the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have disproportionately hurt people and families of color and people with low-incomes. The COVID-19 recession has laid bare—and worsened—the deep-seated racial, gender, and other inequities that have existed in our health, housing, and labor market since long before the pandemic.
The bill reflects many of Heartland Alliance’s longstanding recommendations for substantial and sustained pandemic relief, including provisions such as:
- Flexible resources for cities and states to address the fiscal fall-out brought on by COVID-19 and opportunity to provide much-needed resources and supports to people with low-incomes.
- Direct emergency relief payments for many individuals and families hardest hit by the pandemic.
- Rental assistance, Section 8 housing vouchers, homelessness assistance, and investments in students experiencing homelessness.
- Increases in nutrition assistance supplements for people with low-incomes.
- Significant changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit and expansion of the Child Tax Credit to get money in the hands of more people with low-incomes, those struggling to make ends meet, and children throughout the next year.
- Extended Unemployment Insurance
- Investments in foreign assistance to meet immediate global health needs including addressing the growing hunger crisis, increasing access to immunizations, and strengthening severely strained health systems.
We know that the bill is not perfect, however, we look forward to working alongside the Administration and with local and state leaders to swiftly implement the provisions in the American Rescue Plan.
Attention now must turn to building a federal legislative package focused on economic recovery. Doing so will require solutions rooted in economic justice and focused on redressing the long-standing racial, gender, and other disparities in access to quality jobs. Failure to invest now in an equity-centered recovery will continue to undermine our economic growth, deeply harm individuals and families of color, hamper businesses, and erode our democracy. We look forward to working with the Administration to advance these critical priorities.
