Rep. Greg Harris • 13th District
Springfield Update • March 26, 2021
American Rescue Plan Update
Earlier this month, US Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package. This will provide approximately $7.5 billion in aid to the State of Illinois and an additional $1.9 billion to the City of Chicago. We await further details about how the money can be utilized, and the rules, regulations and limitations from the Treasury Department in the coming weeks. President Biden’s recovery package also includes many opportunities to help you,your family and business.
Childcare: Provides additional funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to expand child care assistance for health care sector employees, emergency responders, sanitation workers, and other essential workers. The bill also sets aside more funding for the Head Start program to continue to serve children and families.
Unemployment Benefits: Extends federal unemployment programs through September 6 including for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) filers. PUA claimants whose benefits were recently suspended should continue certifying for benefits and be sure to certify for any past weeks they may have missed.
Rental Assistance: Allocates billions of dollars in additional Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs to assist tenants impacted by the pandemic, particularly those who missed out on the first round of ERA relief. For more information on rental assistance eligibility and updates on when the next round of assistance will be available, please visit the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) website.
Mortgage Assistance: Illinois will also receive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for homeowner assistance to provide homeowners with direct help with mortgage payments. More information on eligibility and the status of this program is available on the IHDA website.
Stimulus Check: Direct payments of $1,400 for individuals ($2,800 for couples) and $1,400 per dependent (including adults) are being released now. You can check on the status of your payment on the IRS website.
Child Tax Credit: Raises the Child Tax Credit to $3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for other children up to 17 years old. Starting in July, the Treasury will begin to make direct child credit payments to taxpayers based on 2019 or 2020 tax return information. To learn more about this program and update your direct deposit information, please visit the IRS website.
Food Assistance: Extends the 15 percent SNAP benefit increase through September 30, 2021 and increases the WIC benefit. The Pandemic-EBT feeding program is also extended through next school year to support the one million children in Illinois who are not able to access consistent meals at school.
Public Transit: Estimated $1.5 billion in public transit funding for the Chicago region as part of the $30 billion for transit in the bill, which will help prevent service cuts and continue to fund operations and payroll for frontline workers of the CTA, Metra, and Pace through 2023.
Environment: EPA grants to help minority and low income communities reduce the pollution that is linked to COVID-19 health outcome disparities. This funding is going toward EPA programs, such as the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) and Brownfields Program, which have a proven track record of cleaning up deadly air and toxic pollution and creating good-paying jobs.
Healthcare: Provides additional funding for mental health and substance abuse providers to expand services, expands home visiting programs and extends post-partum healthcare for new moms.
Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth provided a 41 page detailed FAQ on the American Rescue Plan bill. It is posted on my website and you can see it here. You can see the State and Local summary here.
CPS Spring Break Meal Service
Spring Break is next week, but Chicago Public School families will still have access to meals during that time. Families can pick up FREE meal kits at CPS facilities from:
Monday, March 29 – Thursday, April 1
9:00am – 1:00pm
Families can get three meals per day for each child in the household. Meal service will not be available Friday, April 2. Find your nearest location by going to CPS Grab-and-Go Meal Sites.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Please do not hesitate to email me at Greg@GregHarris.org or call 773-348-3434.