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• Rural Homeowners: Thousands of low-income households who have become <br />homeowners through the USDA 502 and 504 Direct mortgage programs have fallen <br />behind on their payments during this pandemic. The American Rescue Plan provides $39 <br />million for these mortgage programs to allow USDA to help homeowners who have <br />fallen behind get back on track. <br />• Fair Housing: Fair housing organizations help renters, homeowners, and housing <br />providers identify and combat housing discrimination and need additional resources to <br />address the sudden increase in housing challenges and need for socially -distanced <br />services amid the pandemic. The American Rescue Plan Act provides $20 million to help <br />fair housing organizations meet increased fair housing needs. <br />• Public Transportation: Public transportation agencies estimate they face more than tens <br />of billions of additional costs and revenue losses related to the COVID-19 crisis. The <br />American Rescue Plan Act provides $30.4 billion of additional relief funding to transit <br />agencies to prevent layoffs of transit workers and prevent severe cuts to transit services <br />that essential workers and the general public rely on. Most of the transit relief funding is <br />provided as formula grants based on operating costs, the bipartisan formula established in <br />preceding relief legislation. Funding is also included to ensure that ongoing transit <br />construction projects do not experience costly delays or slowdowns. The legislation also <br />includes $100 million to preserve intercity buses services under the section 5311(f) <br />program. <br />• Small Business Capital: SSBCI provides investment for state governments to set up <br />programs that can leverage billions of dollars in private capital for low -interest loans and <br />other investment to help entrepreneurs and the small business economy rebound from this <br />crisis. The $1.5 billion in SSBCI in 2010 helped states leverage at least 10 times the <br />amount of their SSBCI funds to generate new small business lending, helping to create or <br />retain over 240,000 jobs. The American Rescue Plan provides $10 billion for the SSBCI <br />to help states support small businesses as they recover from the pandemic and reemerge <br />stronger and more resilient than before. <br />• Defense Production Act: In order to combat COVID-19 and address shortfalls in our <br />medical supply chain, the American Rescue Plan provides $10 billion to expand domestic <br />production of personal protective equipment (PPE), vaccines, and other medical supplies. <br />Title IV - Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs <br />• Disaster Relief Fund & Funeral Assistance: The bill will provide $50 million for the <br />Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), <br />which assists states, Tribal Nations, and territories, as well as individuals and qualifying <br />private nonprofits, as they respond to the over 29 million COVID-19 cases across the <br />country that have led to over 525,000 deaths. This funding can pay for personal <br />protective equipment; vaccine distribution; sanitization of schools, public transit, and <br />courthouses; health care overtime costs; and other needs. This money can also be <br />allocated to extending the hard fought funeral assistance program Democrats secured in <br />10 <br />