Press Releases

Wexton Votes to Send American Rescue Plan to President’s Desk

Washington, March 10, 2021

Washington, DC -- Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) voted to pass the Senate-amended American Rescue Plan Act, which will fund a robust public health response to the pandemic, deliver immediate, direct relief to families and small businesses in need, and enable schools to expand their reopenings and remain open safely. The bill now goes to the President to be signed into law.

“Help is on the way,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. “Today we've taken bold action to deliver the American Rescue Plan to the President’s desk, helping us get more shots into arms, put money directly into the pockets of Americans in need, ensure our kids can learn safely in their classrooms, and restore jobs in our community. This legislation will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Virginia’s 10th District to help us address the public health needs of our community and work for a strong and equitable economic recovery. The American Rescue Plan has the support of over 70% of Americans because, after a year of unimaginable difficulties, it will help us finally put this pandemic behind us.” 

"The direct funding for counties and localities provided in the American Rescue Plan will be critical in assisting Loudoun to recover from the devastating economic impact of COVID-19. This bill allows our County and Towns the flexibility to use these funds for lost revenues and other programmatic areas associated with the pandemic. I applaud Congresswoman Wexton for her hard work on this bill,” said Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair At-Large, Phyllis J. Randall

"Our current health and economic crises require a bold response. The American Rescue Plan meets the need of the moment. Thank you, Congresswoman Wexton for your support of this bill and for working tirelessly to ensure direct aid to states and localities was included in the legislation. The millions of dollars that Prince William County is receiving from this legislation will boost our response to this pandemic, especially helping us protect public service jobs, preventing budget cuts, and meeting the needs of all families in our county,” said Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair At-Large, Ann Wheeler

“Like most small towns across America, Middleburg has been hit hard by the pandemic. Its impact to our citizens and businesses have been devastating. Local governments like ours have shouldered many of the burdens of this crisis but unfortunately have been overlooked in federal aid programs. The American Rescue Plan provides towns with the funding we've needed to continue our operations and to support our citizens and small businesses as we continue to battle this virus. I'm grateful to Congresswoman Wexton for her hard work to secure this funding for our district which will help see us through the pandemic,” said Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton

"As we continue all efforts to keep people safe in Winchester, we face many other challenges. Businesses are struggling, workers are relying on unemployment, families are facing financial hardships, and essential local government services must continue despite a drastic drop in tax revenues. We are encouraged by the passage of the American Rescue Plan for a much-needed boost to help rebuild our local economy and bring relief to our entire community. On behalf of the City of Winchester, I want to thank Congresswoman Wexton for her hard work and continued support of Virginia’s localities,” said Winchester Mayor John David Smith, Jr.

The legislation includes:

Funding the Public Health Response:

  • Over $20 billion for a coordinated national vaccination program invest in the development and production of vaccines and get shots into the arms of Americans including through community vaccination centers and mobile units;
  • $51 billion investment to expand testing, contact tracing, and mitigation activities, including $10 billion to boost Defense Production Act funding for manufacturing to meet public health needs;
  • $50 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to reimburse states, localities, tribes, and territories for ongoing COVID response and recovery activities;
  • $4 billion to expand behavioral and mental health services;
  • Support to hire 100,000 additional full-time employees in the public health workforce;
  • Funding for state strike teams to help nursing home facilities manage COVID outbreaks;
  • Providing states with the option to enroll uninsured individuals in Medicaid to receive free COVID testing, treatment, and vaccines, fully funded by the federal government;

Relief for Families and Small Businesses:

  • Direct $1,400 payments to eligible American families;
  • Extends enhanced unemployment benefits of $300 a week through September 6, 2021 and exempts up to $10,200 in unemployment benefits received in 2020 from federal income taxes for households making less than $150,000;
  • Relief for the hardest-hit small businesses, including:
    • Expanded Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) eligibility and funding;
    • $28.66 billion for a new Restaurant Revitalization Fund to provide assistance to small restaurants, bars, and craft beverage producers;
    • $15 billion for the Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance program;
  • Historic expansions to tax credits for working families which would help cut the child poverty rate in half, including:
    • Expanding the Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for children under 6), and making it fully refundable and advanceable;
    • Enhancing the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility;
    • Expanding the Child and Dependent Tax Credit (CDCTC) to increase 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;
  • Expanded access to affordable health care by:
    • Reducing premiums for low- and middle-income families by increasing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) subsidies for 2021 and 2022, which could lead to 4.5 million more Americans gaining coverage;
    • Supporting the continuation of employer-based health coverage by subsidizing COBRA coverage through the end of the fiscal year;
    • Creating health care subsidies for unemployed workers who are ineligible for COBRA;
  • $39 billion for child care providers through the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program to rescue the industry from collapse and to provide financial relief for families;
  • $27.5 billion for additional emergency rental and utility assistance programs plus $10 billion to help homeowners struggling to meet mortgage, property tax, utility, and other payments;
  • Measures to address surge in hunger during the pandemic, including:
    • Continuing the 15% increase in SNAP benefits through September 30, 2021 and authorizing additional funding to meet the increased demand;
    • Investing $5 billion to expand the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program to help low-income families access food assistance both during the school year and summer months and $800 for the WIC program to support low-income women and infants;
  • $7.1 billion to help bridge the digital divide and support distance learning for students without a reliable internet connection;
  • Addressing the rise in family violence and child abuse during the pandemic with $350 million total for programs to support families and provide services for survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault;
  • $14.5 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide health care services and other related supports for eligible veterans impacted by the pandemic including suicide prevention, women’s health services, telehealth expansion, medical facility improvements;

Aid to States, Localities, Schools, and Transit:

  • $350 billion for states, localities, Tribes, and territories to keep first responders, frontline health workers, and other public service employees safely on the job and avoid devastating cuts to critical services;
  • Nearly $130 billion to help schools meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for safely returning students and teachers to the classroom and address lost learning time;
  • Almost $40 billion for institutions of higher learning to help make up for lost revenue and fund emergency financial aid grants to prevent hunger, homelessness, and other hardships that students may be facing during the pandemic;
  • $30 billion for transit systems to aid COVID response, particularly for payroll expenses and operating costs to maintain services safely;
  • $8 billion in emergency aid for airports, with a requirement to continue to retain at least 90% of their workforce through the end of the fiscal year; and
  • $15 billion to extend the Payroll Support Program through September 30, 2021 to prevent furloughs and layoffs of airline industry employees.

Virginia-10 Funding:

Under the legislation’s state and local funding,VA-10 is estimated to receive a total of $576.4 million and the Commonwealth of Virginia is estimated to receive nearly $3.8 billion. Under the plan’s school relief, the 10th District’s school systems are estimated to receive $333,957,000 with school systems across the commonwealth receiving nearly $2 billion total.

An updated breakdown of the estimated funding going to VA-10 counties, localities, and school districts can be found here.

More than half a million Americans have lost their lives to COVID. As the public health and economic crises continue, over 18 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits, nearly 24 million Americans are going hungry with an estimated 12 million children living in households with food insecurity, up to 40 million Americans have struggled to pay rent during the pandemic and fear eviction, school closures threaten the education of countless millions of our children, and our most vulnerable communities are bearing the brunt of the crises as underlying health and economic inequities grow worse. 

The full text of the bill can be found here.

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