City Council Agenda and Packet 2021 04 13 SP

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economic adjustment assistance to help revitalize local communities after the pandemic. The CARES funding is oversubscribed, with the amount of funding requested far outstripping the available amount, as communities face growing needs in responding to the significant job losses caused by COVID-19. This funding will also help EDA fulfill its role as the lead agency under the National Disaster Response Framework to assist communities with economic recovery following a disaster, including the current health pandemic. • Air Quality Monitoring and Pollution Clean-up: COVID-19 has killed more than 500,000 Americans, but these tragic effects haven't been evenly distributed across the country. Communities exposed to higher levels of air and toxic pollution, such as the dirty soot from old diesel engines, are also more likely to have higher COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates. Multiple scientific studies have found direct links between long term exposure to air pollution and higher risks of dying from COVID-19. This bill provides $100 million to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in funding to update our national air quality monitoring system and reduce the air and toxic pollution that is linked with contributing to COVID-19 deaths. $50 million of this funding is targeted to low income communities and communities of color who are significantly more likely to live with poor air quality and to be more susceptible to COVID-19. This funding will be directed to EPA grant programs with a proven track record for cleaning up deadly air and toxic pollution, all the while creating good -paying American jobs. • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Funding: COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease. This funding will allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to better prevent wildlife trafficking, which can contribute to the spread of zoonotic diseases, as well as to track and study wildlife disease. This bill also provides funding for the care of captive species protected under the Endangered Species Act or rescued, confiscated or other federal trust species in facilities experiencing lost revenues due to COVID-19. Title VII - Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation • Broadband for Remote Learning: At least 12 million K-12 public school students live in households without either an internet connection or a device adequate for distance learning at home. And, a disproportionate amount of the children that lack Internet connectivity come from communities of color, low-income households, Tribal lands, and rural areas. This bill will provide $7.172 billion to the Federal Communications Commission to help schools and libraries ensure that our nation's schoolchildren can fully participate in remote learning, even as schools look to reopen safely. • Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The $175 million in support for public broadcasting provided by this bill will help public broadcasters around the country weather the economic fallout to their stations from the COVID crisis. This stabilization support is critical for ensuring universal access to public broadcasting and the high - quality, non-commercial content and telecommunications services they provide that educate, inform, and help protect the public. 13