City Council Agenda and Packet 2021 04 13 SP

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Title -By -Title Summary of the American Rescue Plan The following title -by -title summary outlines the American Rescue Plan Act as passed by the Senate on March 6th, 2021. The bill will provide urgent and targeted funding to defeat the virus and provide workers and families the resources they need to survive the pandemic while the vaccine is distributed to every American. The bill provides for a total of $1.88 trillion in federal investments. Title I — Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry • Nutrition: The bill will extend the 15% increase in SNAP benefits through September 30, 2021 to address the hunger crisis. As many as 50 million Americans have struggled to feed themselves or their families during the pandemic and need continued support to put food on the table. • The bill will extend the Pandemic EBT program which helps children in need by providing families, who normally would receive school meals in person, with the value of those missed school breakfasts and lunches. During this time of historic hunger for American families, it is critical that this program is available through the pandemic, including summer months to keep the 22 million children who use this program fed. • This bill will provide funding for outreach and modernization to make the WIC program more user-friendly and increases the Cash Value Voucher benefit so moms and babies can buy additional fruits and vegetables. Participation in WIC has declined significantly in recent years, barely rising during the pandemic. • Food Supply Chain: The bill will build on the bipartisan approach from the December COVID-19 package, by providing $4 billion to support the food supply chain through the purchase and distribution of food, the purchase of PPE for farmworkers and other frontline food workers, and financial support for farmers, small and medium sized food processing companies, farmers markets, and others to create more resilient and competitive food supply chains. It also provides funding to monitor COVID-19 in animals and reduce overtime inspection fees for small meat and poultry processors. Our food supply chain has shown to be highly vulnerable due to the COVID-19 crisis affecting farmers, families, food businesses, and essential food workers. • Farmers of Color: The bill will provide debt relief and assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who have faced disproportionate impacts from the pandemic as a result of longstanding discrimination. The Agriculture Department's lending and financial assistance programs have long discriminated against Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and other farmers of color. Black farmers in the South alone have lost more than 12 million acres of farmland since the 1950s and many farmers of color who remain in agriculture struggle with burdensome debt that has prevented many from being able to grow and sustain their farms, especially during the pandemic. This is an important step to ensure these farmers benefit from COVID-19 assistance programs. • Rural Health Care: This bill will provide a lifeline for healthcare in rural America by increasing vaccine distribution capacity, providing medical supplies and medical surge capacity, expand access to telehealth, and help to fill the gap for rural healthcare