Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today released the following statement after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. Cortez Masto secured a number of priorities for Nevada in the final legislation, including funding for workers’ health care coverage, $750 million in emergency relief for the tourism industry, and $4 billion in state and local funding for Nevada. The package will help deliver $1,400 stimulus checks for struggling families, fund vaccination efforts, extend unemployment insurance and health coverage for individuals who remain furloughed or out of work, cut child poverty in half by expanding vital tax credits, and provide the resources necessary to safely and quickly reopen schools.
“The American Rescue Plan will help us address the multiple crises facing Nevada, and I am proud to help deliver these federal resources to support Nevada’s working families and bolster our state’s economy. This is a comprehensive package that will help our local communities keep first responders on their payrolls, ramp up vaccine production, extend unemployment insurance, cover 100% of COBRA benefits for out of work Nevadans, and ensure our schools can safely and quickly reopen. It also will help us recover longer-term by infusing our devastated hospitality and travel industries with new funding and making significant strides towards ending child poverty. This bill is a big step towards Nevada’s recovery, and I’ll continue advocating to bring Nevada the resources it needs to thrive.”
Senator Cortez Masto secured the following provisions in the final version of the American Rescue Plan:
- 100% subsidy for COBRA continuation coverage premiums for unemployed or furloughed workers;
- $750 million in funding for the Economic Development Administration to help states like Nevada that have been impacted by job and revenue loss in the tourism and travel industries;
- An extension and expansion of the Employee Retention Tax Credit to allow more hardest-hit businesses to access the credit, including Nevada’s hospitality and tourism businesses;
- $1 billion in funding to help modernize unemployment insurance systems across the country and speed up the delivery of benefits to those in need;
- A provision to ensure that ambulance organizations and first responders working to keep low-risk Medicare patients out of the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic are properly paid for their efforts.
The American Rescue Plan includes:
- $1,400 per-person checks to struggling Americans across the country;
- $20 billion for a national vaccination program and $50 billion for a massive expansion of testing;
- $170 billion to help K-12 schools and institutions of higher education continue to re-open safely;
- Funding for 100,000 new public health workers and health care strike teams to help long-term care facilities;
- Extensions to existing COVID relief programs that offer supplemental unemployment benefits and expanded paid leave for workers affected by COVID-19;
- $30 billion for sufficient supplies and PPE for frontline workers;
- 100% federal reimbursement for FEMA resources, including deployment of the National Guard;
- $30 billion in rental and critical utilities assistance;
- An expansion of ACA tax credits and expanded mental health services;
- $13 billion for nutrition programs and $5 billion for Americans experiencing homelessness;
- A permanent increase of $130 million per year for child care assistance and an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which will lift millions of families out of poverty and cut child poverty in half;
- $25 billion in grants to help small restaurants keep their doors open;
- $10 billion to reauthorize the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which provides flexible, affordable capital to small businesses across the country;
- And $350 billion in direct support for state and local governments whose budgets have been impacted by the pandemic.
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