Dear Friend, 

I just voted for the American Rescue Plan, a historic bill to conquer the coronavirus and remedy the economic harm caused to the American people. With House and Senate passage, President Biden will sign it into law this week and address the nation tomorrow night about how it will get millions of shots into people’s arms, kids back in school, businesses reopened, and our lives back to normal.  

Read below how the American Rescue Plan will help you and your neighbors, and click here for a more comprehensive summary. I welcome you to join my Telephone Town Hall at 6:45 pm tonight where I will discuss how this affects you and answer the questions you have. You can RSVP and stream live here.  

Aid to individuals: 

• Provides $1,400 for each adult and $1,400 for each dependent to Americans who make an annual income of $75,000 or under for those filing single and $150,000 or under for those married filing jointly.  
• Provides a partial direct cash payment to Americans who make an annual income between $75,000.01 and $80,000 for those filing single and between $150,00001 and $160,000 for those married filing jointly. 
• Extends weekly $300 federal unemployment insurance plus ups through September 6, 2021. Also extends other unemployment insurance programs like Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), for workers normally not covered by regular unemployment -- self-employed workers, 1099 employees, gig workers, etc. – and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), an extension for workers who have exhausted other unemployment insurance benefits. Both PUA and PEUC are extended to September 6, 2021.  
• Waives federal income taxes for the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits in 2020 for qualified individuals. 
• Adjusts ACA subsidies so qualifying individuals will not pay more than 8.5% of the household income for the benchmark plan. 
• Provides premium assistance for 100% of COBRA continuation of coverage for eligible individuals through September 31, 2021. 
• Increases Utility Assistance, Emergency Rental Assistance, and Homeowner Assistance.  

Help for families: 

• Expands child tax credit to $3,000 for children older than 6 and $3,600 for children under age six and makes it fully refundable, and requires those payments be advanced to families on a regular basis. 
• Increases the amount of child care expenses that are eligible for tax credits. 
• Provides Connecticut with over $1 billion in funding to safely reopen schools. 
• Provides $7 billion nation-wide to expand broadband to ensure all students can complete their homework with reliable internet access. 
• Provides nearly $40 billion for grants to ensure child care providers keep their doors open. 

Combatting the Virus: 

• Provides $7.5 billion for FEMA to establish vaccination sites nationwide and $7.5 billion for the CDC to prepare, monitor, administer and track vaccinations.  
• Provides $5.2 billion to Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and manufacture vaccines, therapeutics, and medical products to treat and prevent COVID-19. 
• Provides $47.8 billion to HHS to detect, diagnose, trace, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. 
• Provides $10 billion for the Defense Production Act to produce and purchase medical supplies and equipment, medical drugs and biological products.  
• $7.6 billion to HHS to expand and maintain and public health workforce. 

Relief for Businesses:  

• Creates a nearly $30 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund to help restaurants make up for lost revenue and help pay costs not covered under PPP. 
• Increases funding for the Economic Industry Disaster Loan Advance Program (EIDL) and re-establishes the State Small Business Credit Initiative. 
• Expands eligibility for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  
• Authorizes additional funding for shuttered entertainment venues 
• Includes money for states and localities to keep firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers, and other public employees on the payroll.  

One year ago tomorrow, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, the economy has lost millions of jobs, and we’ve lost over 500,000 of our friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues. Despite the tragedies and hardships of the last year, better days are on the horizon .This legislation ensures that we will defeat this virus as soon as possible and get America back on its feet.  

As always, if you have any questions, please call my office at (203)333-6600. 

Sincerely, 

Jim