President-Elect Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package Plan
President-Elect Joe Biden has unveiled his incoming Administration’s plan to deliver $1.9 trillion in funding to address the COVID-19 crisis that still rages across the country. Entitled the “American Rescue Plan,” it is the first step in the overall two-step plan the Administration has to tackle the public health and economic crises caused by the pandemic. The second step of the plan has yet to be detailed to the public. This first step builds upon the last COVID-19 relief package Congress passed in December 2020, by providing further funding to support vaccine roll-out efforts, direct relief to families and frontline workers, expand health care, expand and extend unemployment insurance, and support struggling communities across the nation. The American Rescue Plan will be transmitted to Congress, where lawmakers will use the plan as a guide for developing the next federal COVID-19 relief package. Importantly for the water sector, the plan includes $5 billion in assistance to support the hardest-hit households’ to pay their home energy and water services costs. A fact sheet on the American Rescue Plan can be accessed here, however, key highlights from the plan are summarized below.

  • Authorize Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue COVID 19 protection standard for public workers that might face retaliation for citing unsafe working conditions
  • Provide emergency paid leave (sick and family) for 14 weeks
  • Provide a maximum paid leave of $1400.00 per week, to provide full wage replacement for workers earning up to $73,000
  • Reimburse state and local governments for the cost of mandatory leave
  • Extend emergency paid leave until September 30, 2021
  • Provide $400 in federal supplemental unemployment assistance
  • Extend eviction or foreclosure moratoria until September 30, 2021
  • Provide an additional $30 billion in rental and energy and water assistance ($5 billion set aside for energy and water costs and arrearages)
  • Raise federal minimum wage to $15/hour
  • Encourage employers to provide frontline essential workers with hazard pay
  • Provide $350 billion in emergency funding for state and local governments to keep public front line workers on the job
  • Provide $3 billion to Economic Development Administration to support local economic development