In a historic vote over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The package now heads to the Senate.
The relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, provides $65 billion in flexible federal funding to all cities across
the country. Under the bill, the funds could be used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensure the continuation of essential services, and address negative economic impacts, including replacing lost city revenue, resulting from the ongoing pandemic.
Additionally, local jurisdictions could pool funding with other local governments and share funding with local non-profits.
There is also a significant change for cities that have a population of more than 50,000 but do not receive direct Community Development Block Grant (CDGB) funding - these cities may now elect to receive direct federal funding through the Treasury Department
instead of through the state. This is an important change as it appears that cities that apply through the Treasury Department for relief aid would not be subject to a cap on allocations that other cities will face when applying for funding through
the state.
In Washington, the state expects to receive and distribute $2.4 billion to local jurisdictions. Once the state receives federal funds under the Rescue Act, cities will need to apply to the state to receive their allocation. State leadership is in the
process of developing a distribution plan for the funds. AWC expects the plan will follow a similar roadmap to that used by the Department of Commerce when distributing Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) in 2020. The allocation to cities applying through
the state will be capped at 75% of a city’s most recent adopted budget as of January 27, 2020.
The American Rescue Plan Act is essential to Washington cities to ensure that our communities can recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Please note, the funds will only be available if they are included in the final bill that is signed into law. We thank
all city officials who have been active with AWC and the National League of Cities (NLC) over the past year to urge federal action to support cities of all sizes as we work toward recovery.
In a recent CityVoice Podcast episode, Peter King, AWC CEO, and other AWC staff sit down to discuss the American Rescue Plan Act. During the 15-minute episode, they discuss the differences between the CARES Act and the Rescue Act, how much cities
could expect to receive, and what cities can do to advocate direct federal funding. The CityVoice Podcast is available on the AWC website or on Apple Podcasts.
AWC is grateful for the following House members who voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan Act:
- Suzan DelBene (D–1)
- Pramila Jayapal (D–7)
- Derek Kilmer (D–6)
- Rick Larsen (D–2)
- Kim Schrier (D–8)
- Adam Smith (D–9)
- Marilyn Strickland (D–10)
AWC invites all city officials to attend an upcoming briefing with Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell on Wednesday, March 10 at 11 am. During the
meeting we will discuss AWC’s federal priorities and learn more about the federal COVID-19 response.