KEATING: SOUTH COAST ALLOCATED OVER $261M 
FROM HOUSE-PASSED AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN

 

Washington, DC – Late last night, the US House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan Act, robust legislation that will help our citizens and communities recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

 

Included in the Act is $350 billion directly awarded to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. These state and local coronavirus relief funds will provide support for the rollout of vaccines as well as the recovery of our local economies, and their usage must address either the pandemic or its negative economic impacts.  

 

Under this provision, the South Coast was awarded $109,620,356.55 in county funds for Bristol County and a total of $152,368,449.90 for individual cities and towns.  A list of allotments for the towns that fall in the 9th Congressional District in Bristol County can be found below.  As the legislation has only passed the House, these allocations will be finalized once the legislation passes the Senate and is signed into law.

 

“The American Rescue Plan reflects the urgency that is necessary to combat this virus, provide income and food security, and literally save lives,” said Congressman Bill Keating.  “With the continued vaccine rollout there is light at the end of the tunnel.  This bill will get us there faster, healthier, and stronger than before.”

 

The American Rescue Plan Act is projected to lift almost 12 million people out of poverty and generate approximately $1.25 for every dollar spent. Additional provisions of the legislation include:

•    A national vaccination program that includes setting up community vaccination sites nationwide as well as additional measures to combat the virus, such as scaling up testing and tracing, addressing shortages of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, investing in high-quality treatments and addressing health care disparities.

•    A roughly $130 billion investment in school re-opening.  These funds can be used for such things as reducing class sizes, modifying spaces so that students and teachers can socially distance, improving ventilation, implementing more mitigation measures, providing personal protective equipment, and providing summer school or other support for students that help make up lost learning time this year.  The plan also provides resources for higher education, Head Start and child care facilities.

•    $1,400 in direct assistance per person.  The plan will also provide direct housing assistance, nutrition assistance for 40 million Americans, expand access to safe and reliable child care and affordable health care, extend and expand Unemployment Insurance so that 19 million American workers can pay their bills, and supports 27 million children with an expanded Child Tax Credit and 15 million low-wage workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit.  It will give 27 million workers a raise and lift one million out of poverty by raising the federal minimum wage.

•    Crucial support for the hardest-hit small businesses – especially those owned by entrepreneurs from racial and ethnic backgrounds that have experienced systemic discrimination – with EIDL grants, expanded PPP eligibility and more.  The plan also provides crucial resources to protect the jobs of first responders, frontline public health workers, teachers, transit workers and other essential workers that all Americans depend on.

 

CITY AND TOWN ALLOCATIONS
Acushnet    $1,048,215.22
Dartmouth    $3,372,835.94
Fairhaven    $1,586,183.93
Fall River    $73,038,290.39
Marion    $511,824.99
Mattapoisett    $631,494.17
New Bedford    $68,823,343.45
Rockland    $1,774,418.72
Westport    $1,581,843.09