The Treasury Department set a May 10 deadline for local governments with populations over 200,000 to submit necessary documentation to receive Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Round 2 funds authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Requests submitted after that date may not be approved as quickly, so eligible entities are encouraged to submit the necessary information as soon as possible. Treasury published a user guide and a list of required data fields to help applicants gather the necessary information for the submission process.
Congress and the White House are continuing efforts to come to an agreement on infrastructure legislation. According to the Washington Post, “President Biden and top Democrats are signaling privately they are willing to make concessions over Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, or break it into chunks, if that will attract even a handful of Republican votes and allow them to notch a bipartisan win.” This comes on the heels of recent comments by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who said he expected no Republicans would support President Biden’s current combined price tag of $4 trillion for the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan, indicating GOP lawmakers are open to a roughly $600 billion bill. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who has been leading the negotiations for the Senate Republican conference, said that infrastructure talks with the White House are making progress. “It’s all moving forward, it’s all positive,” she said.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other members of the administration are traveling the country this week for a “Getting America Back on Track” tour in an effort to sell the administration’s American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan to the American people. “The Jobs Plan and Families Plan already have wide bipartisan support, and the president and his team are going to build on that by carrying the message to red states and blue states alike in the coming weeks,” a White House spokesperson said Sunday. Today, the President will be in Lake Charles and New Orleans, Louisiana, making stops at the 70-year-old Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles and the Carrollton Water Plant in New Orleans.
Capitol Hill. On April 30, the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR), Brian D. Miller, issued his Quarterly Report to Congress for January 1—March 31, 2021. The report indicates that a decision on April 29 by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has “permanently reduced oversight” of specific relief programs implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. Miller warns that his efforts have been limited after the OLC held that his oversight jurisdiction applies only to Treasury’s direct loans and the Federal Reserve’s lending programs but not to the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), Payroll Support Program (PSP), and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Miller said that his office had “been met with resistance” for several months from the Treasury Department and the Treasury’s Inspector General over his oversight of the CRF and PSP.
On May 5, Axios reported Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), David Trone (D-MD), and David McKinley (R-WV) will send a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on May 6 asking her to provide latitude for localities, counties, and states to use some of their relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) to address the opioid crisis, including treatment and recovery expenses. Rep. Spanberger said that if Treasury’s upcoming guidance for the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund does not clarify or allow for that maximum flexibility, she is prepared to introduce legislation making it clear the stimulus money can be used for addressing substance abuse.
On April 30, Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the Treasury Department “to provide states with guidance as quickly as possible regarding eligible uses of the state and local relief funds provided by the American Rescue Plan.”
On May 4, a group of 12 House Republicans, led by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH), sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai urging her and the Biden Administration to continue opposing a waiver to loosen patent and intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines. On May 5, Tai said in a statement that the administration will support waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines because “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures.”
On April 30, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Chair Jim Clyburn (D-SC), and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA) sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting a staff briefing regarding issues related to “ensur[ing] America remains a global leader in protecting international public health and safety by distributing excess supplies to those in dire need.”
On April 28, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) sent letters to the CEOs of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson requesting information on their plans to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine manufacturing capacity across the globe. They have requested a response no later than May 11, 2021.
Administration. Treasury is disbursing more than 1.1 million payments in the eighth batch of Economic Impact Payments under the American Rescue Plan (ARPA). A total of 164 million payments valued at $386 billion has been paid.
The Labor Department issued guidance to states on handling CARES Act unemployment benefits overpayments, noting states may choose to waive recovery of overpayments under certain circumstances when an individual is not at fault.
The White House released a fact sheet on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RFF) – a $28.6 billion program to aid restaurants, bars, food trucks and other food and drink establishments. In the first two days of the program, 186,200 restaurants, bars, and other eligible applied for relief. Under the RRF, restaurants and bars are eligible for grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss. The funds are available for uses like payroll and rent. SBA accepts applications here.
FCC released a draft Report and Order that, if adopted, would establish the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program. The program would reimburse schools and libraries for the purchase, during the COVID-19 pandemic, of laptop and tablet computers, Wi-Fi hotspots and other eligible equipment as well as broadband connections for students, school staff, and library patrons. FCC also is accepting Round 2 COVID-19 Telehealth Program Applications and announced the May 12 start date of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program and provided an outreach toolkit for local governments and other partners to raise awareness.
HHS is releasing $1.4 billion in funding from ARPA for Older Americans Act programs, including programs to support vaccine outreach and coordination, address social isolation, provide family caregiver support, and offer nutrition support. It will also fund justice programs to ensure the safety and protection of older adults.
USDA is providing states with $1.135 billion from ARPA to support state administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP). State agencies may use the administrative funds, provided over the next three years, for a variety of purposes, including investing in technology to improve access to SNAP benefits, exploring opportunities to better reach vulnerable populations, and improving reporting on program outcomes to enable data-driven decision making. More than 41 million Americans rely on SNAP. USDA also announced the availability of $92.2 million in competitive grant funding under the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP), supporting the development, coordination and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises and value-added agricultural products.
GAO reports evidence collected during the pandemic suggests the prevalence of behavioral health conditions has increased, while access to in-person behavioral health services has decreased.
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The U.S. Conference of Mayors published a readout of the groups’ virtual conversation with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. Participants discussed the importance of investing in America’s workforce through innovative education and training programs, the future of green jobs in America, and promoting equity and inclusion so that nobody is left behind in America’s recovery from COVID-19.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is recommending that nonresident travelers vaccinated against COVID-19 and those from “countries with a good health situation” be allowed to travel to the European Union this summer. Current EU restrictions allow only travelers from seven countries to enter the Union, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated.
Airlines for America has joined with a coalition of aviation-related groups in a letter to President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to encourage the reopening of the U.S.-U.K. air travel market. The letter references the coronavirus impacts on the tourism, travel, and hospitality sector and states that “if travel restrictions are lifted by this June, we expect the market will start to recover and approach 70 percent of 2019 levels by the end of the year.”
Vaccine News
Study shows that the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases of the virus caused by more infectious variants. The findings indicate the two-dose inoculation could protect against more transmissible variants fueling new waves of the virus around the globe.
Booster shots under development by Moderna Inc. help improve immune responses against some variants among people given the company’s Covid-19 vaccine in an early study. The preliminary results show signs that adding booster shots several months after original vaccinations could bolster people’s immunity against more contagious strains of the virus.
Dr. Fauci shared that the FDA is likely to authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents as young as 12 years old. The vaccine is currently authorized for those at least 16 years old. While children are broadly less susceptible to severe COVID-19, they have a higher chance of spreading infection, and are becoming an increasingly larger proportion of new coronavirus infections in the country.
President Biden announced his goal to administer at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine to 70% of U.S. adults by July 4 as the country moves to vaccinate harder-to-reach Americans. The President also set a goal of 160 million U.S. adults fully vaccinated by Independence Day. Together, those goals will mean about 100 million more shots, both first and second doses, over the next 60 days.
HHS announced a new program covering costs of administering COVID-19 vaccines to patients enrolled in health plans that either do not cover vaccination fees or cover them with patient cost-sharing. Since providers cannot bill patients for COVID-19 vaccination fees, this new program, the COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund (CAF), addresses an outstanding compensation need for providers on the front lines vaccinating underinsured patients.
HHS and HUD announced plans to team up to extend access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing in vulnerable communities. The communities of focus include HUD-assisted households and people undergoing homelessness. The departments estimate the joint effort will extend to more than 6,000 multifamily housing properties, 6,700 homeless shelters, and about 7,500 public housing properties across the U.S.
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Webinars, Events and Resources |
NACo Cyberattack Simulation – Pandemic
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June 21 – 10:00 AM ET
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