Brown Votes to Pass American Rescue Plan (March 06, 2021)

Summary

March 6, 2021 release reporting that Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) voted for the American Rescue Plan, with a list of what the bill includes for vaccination, schools, direct payments and housing. It says the direct payment would bring the total relief payment from this and the December down payment from Congress to $2,000, and lists more than $40 billion in housing assistance. The release says the bill includes a fix for the multiemployer pensions system so that thousands of Ohio retirees receive the pension they have earned. It also says Brown is urging the Biden administration to include recurring relief payments in the Build Back Better plan.

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March 06, 2021

BROWN VOTES TO PASS AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN TO GET ALL AMERICANS VACCINATED AND SUPPORT WORKERS, COMMUNITIES & SMALL BUSINESSES

Legislation Would Deliver Results President Biden Promised - Including Long-Awaited Multiemployer Pensions Fix for Ohio Retirees, Rental Assistance, Stimulus Checks, Child Tax Credit & Earned Income Tax Credit Expansion, State and Local Government Relief, & More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
today voted to pass the American Rescue Plan , which will ramp up vaccine
production and distribution to get all Americans vaccinated, and support all
Ohioans through the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis. The
bill includes several key priorities for which Brown has long fought ,
including a fix for the multiemployer pensions system to ensure thousands of Ohio retirees receive the pension they have earned .

“The American Rescue Plan will help us deliver
on the hope that Americans voted for. Democrats promised shots in arms, money
in families’ pockets, children in schools, workers in jobs, and a roof over
families’ heads. We’re following through on that promise,” said Brown.

The bill includes funding and resources to combat
this virus, and help hardworking Ohioans and their families recover:

SHOTS IN ARMS

· $20 billion for
a national, coordinated vaccination program, in partnership with states
and localities. This will include launching community vaccination centers around the country and deploying mobile vaccination units to
hard-to-reach areas.

· $50 billion for
a massive expansion of testing, contact tracing, and genomic sequencing of
COVID-19 variants . This includes providing funds for the purchase of rapid
tests, investments to expand lab capacity, and support to help schools and
local governments implement regular testing protocols.

· $10 billion to utilize
the Defense Production Act to produce, purchase, and distribute
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other essential medical supplies in the
U.S.

· Additional
support to help Americans keep their health insurance by providing COBRA
premium assistance for individuals who lost their employer sponsored health
coverage and expanding subsidies for folks to purchase health insurance
under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

o Brown led efforts to expand healthcare coverage and ensure these robust COBRA subsidies.

o Brown has worked to
lower health insurance premiums for Ohioans who buy health insurance through
the ACA.

· Increased federal
funding for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), which is
essential for older Americans and people with disabilities who live and
receive services in their homes and the workforce that supports them, as well
as for state Medicaid programs.

· 12-months of Medicaid
postpartum coverage for new mothers . This policy is essential to addressing
our nation’s maternal mortality crisis – one that has been exacerbated by
COVID-19 and that overwhelmingly affects Black women.

· $8.5 billion in provider relief for rural healthcare providers .

CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS

· $130 billion to help
K-12 schools reopen for in-person learning safely . This would help schools implement public health protocols for the safe reopening of schools and meet
students’ academic, mental, social, and emotional needs, whether they’re
learning in-person, hybrid, or remotely. These flexible funds can be used to
facilitate social distancing and modify physical space, improve ventilation,
hire more staff, provide PPE, provide mental health services and supports,
including through the implementation of full-service community schools, and
provide other resources and supports to serve students.

o It also includes
funds dedicated to address learning loss and inequities exacerbated by
disruptions to education caused by the pandemic.

o This funding
includes a $1.25 billion set aside for evidence-based summer enrichment, $1.25
billion for afterschool programs, and $3 billion for education technology.

· In addition,
this bill will include $40 billion to support institutions of higher
education and their students. Half of the funds for public and non-profit
schools will go toward emergency financial aid grants to help students who are
experiencing financial hardship due to the economic crisis. The rest of the
funds will help stabilize public and non-profit schools who are facing budget
cuts and additional expenses navigating educating students amidst the pandemic.

MONEY IN POCKETS

· Another round of direct stimulus payments for people struggling as a result of this
pandemic. The proposal would provide a $1,400 per-person check to help pay
their bills, bringing their total relief payment from this and the December
down payment from Congress to $2,000 .

o Brown is also
continuing to urge the Biden administration to include recurring relief
payments and jobless benefits tied to economic conditions in President Biden’s long-term “Build Back Better” plan.

· Additional weeks
of unemployment benefits , through September 6, 2021, including for
self-employed and independent contractors. It would include an additional $300
per-week unemployment benefit .

· More than $40
billion in housing assistance , including more than $21 billion for rental
and utility assistance , $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers ,
nearly $10 billion for homeowner assistance , and $5 billion for homelessness
assistance and supportive services to help keep people in their homes and
to help secure safe housing for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
It also provides funding for housing counseling .

o Brown has fought to
ensure renters and homeowners can stay in their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He successfully secured $25 billion in rental
assistance in the last relief package.

· An expansion to
the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).

o Brown led the
Senate Democrats last Congress in re-introducing the Working Families Tax Relief Act , which
would cut taxes for workers and families by expanding the EITC and CTC. The
EITC and CTC are two of the most effective tools to put money in the pockets of
working people and pull children out of poverty.

o The bill also
continues a special rule under current law that allows tax filers to use their
2019 wages for purposes of calculating their EITC. Brown led bipartisan legislation to
get this signed into law last year.

· An extension of
the 15 percent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
benefit increase . This would maintain the increase through the summer, when
childhood hunger spikes due to a lack of school meals.

o This would also
include nearly $1 billion to help women, infants and children get the
food they need through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC).

· $425 million to
support programs under the Administration for Children and Families that support
programs serving kinship caregivers, children and young people in foster care ,
refugees and immigrant children, and families in need.

o The bill also
includes $350 million to support families and provide resources to
communities to prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect . Last month,
Brown reintroduced the Emergency Funding for Child Protection Act to
bolster state helplines and support families with their health and material
needs.

· $30 billion
investment in the Disaster Relief Fund , to ensure sufficient supplies
and protective gear, and to provide 100% federal reimbursement for critical
emergency response resources to states and local governments, including
deployment of the National Guard.

WORKERS IN JOBS

· $50 billion in
funding to help small businesses keep their doors open and get back
on their feet , including $25 billion for restaurants, an additional $7.25
billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, and funding to help businesses
better understand and navigate the federal programs available to them.

· $10 billion for
the State Small Business Credit Initiative , which provides funding to
states to create or expand their own small business financing programs.

· $350 billion in state
and local funding to help states and municipalities across Ohio with revenue loss due to this
once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. This will help prevent local layoffs across
the country.

o This funding
includes a new Critical Infrastructure Projects program to help states
carry out critical capital projects directly enabling work, education, and
health monitoring, including remote options, in response to COVID-19.

· An increase in
tax credits to help cover the cost of child care , to help
millions of families and help parents return to work.

o This bill would
also create a $24 billion emergency stabilization fund to help hard-hit child
care providers reopen safely and provide $15 billion for the Child Care and
Development Block Grant to help families and parents afford child care so they
can get back to work.

· $30 billion of
further assistance for public transportation relief to prevent layoffs of
transit workers and prevent cuts to transit services that essential workers and
the general public rely on.

LONG-AWAITED MULTIEMPLOYER PENSIONS FIX FOR OHIO
RETIREES

· A financial
assistance program for financially troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans. Brown
has been fighting for this fix for years and was able to secure key provisions based on his Butch
Lewis Act in the bill. Brown named the legislation in memory of Butch Lewis , the former retired head of Teamsters Local 100 in
southwest Ohio.

o About 10 million
Americans participate in multiemployer pension plans and about 1.5 million of
them are in plans that are quickly running out of money. Many of these troubled
plans cover workers who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 public health crisis,
such as trucking, food processing, grocery store workers, and others. Even
before the pandemic, workers, businesses, and retirees faced a crisis and were
in dire need of our help.

o To address this
crisis, this legislation would create a special financial assistance program
under which cash payments would be made by the PBGC to financially troubled
multiemployer pension plans to ensure that such plans can continue paying
retirees’ benefits.

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