LOC News
Senate Passes Federal Stimulus, House Expected to Vote on Friday
The U.S. Senate passed legislation this week to stabilize the economy, governments and individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the National League of Cities (NLC) and the work of Oregon’s senators, the bill does not include direct assistance to local governments with populations less than 500,000. However, cities may apply for assistance from the state as a pass through. The bill also provides increased funding to the Community Development Block Grant program, law enforcement assistance and purchases of personal protective equipment. Highlights of the bill are as follows:
Airports
- Federal Aviation Administration, Airport Improvement Program (AIP) – $10 billion to maintain operations at our nation's airports that are facing a record drop in passengers. AIP funds will be distributed by formula.
- Essential Air Service (EAS) – $56 million provided to maintain existing air service to rural communities. This funding is necessary to offset the reduction in overflight fees that help pay for the EAS program.
Transit
- Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Transit Infrastructure Grants – $25 billion for transit providers, including states and local governments across the country, for operating and capital expenses. Funding will be distributed using existing FTA formulas.
Rail
- Amtrak – $492 million in grants for the Northeast Corridor and $526 million in grants for the broader national network to cover revenue losses related to the coronavirus. In addition, funding is provided to help states pay for their share of the cost of state supported routes.
Transportation
- USDOT Administrative Support – $6 million for the Department of Transportation to cover increased administrative expenses as a result of the coronavirus.
USDA
- Rural Development – $145.5 million
- Rural Business Cooperative Service – $20.5 million
Health & Human Services
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) – $900 million to help lower income households heat and cool their homes.
Environmental Protection Agency
- $770,000 for the Superfund program to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, for necessary expenses for cleaning and disinfecting equipment or facilities of, or for use by, the Environmental Protection Agency
Commerce
- Economic Development Administration - $1,500,000,000
- Manufacturing Extension Partnership - $50,000,000
- Legal Services Corporation - $50,000,000
Small Business Administration
- Economic Injury Disaster Loans - $562,000,000
Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
- Tenant-Based Rental Assistance - $1,250,000,000
- Project-Based Rental Assistance - $1,000,000,000
- Public Housing Operating Fund - $685,000,000
- Community Development Block Grants - $5,000,000,000
- Homeless Assistance Grants - $4,000,000,000
- Housing for the Elderly - $50,000,000
- Housing for Persons with Disabilities - $15,000,000
Broadband Connectivity
- $25,000,000 for U.S. Department of Agriculture Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband Program
- $100,000,000 extension for U.S. Department of Agriculture ReConnect rural broadband competitive grant/loan program
- $200,000,000 for Federal Communications Commission telehealth pilot program
Law Enforcement, Public Safety & Criminal Justice
- Resources for federal, state and local law enforcement - $850 million for the Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant Program (Byrne-JAG)
- Federal Bureau of Prisons - $100 million
- Federal Law Enforcement - $55 million for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Attorneys
- Federal Judiciary: - $7.5 million for three accounts in the Judicial Branch.
- Family Violence Prevention Services - $45 million to support families during this uncertain time, and to prevent and respond to family and domestic violence, including offering shelter and supportive services to those who need it.
Personal Protective Equipment
- Defense Production Act - $1 billion to allow the U.S. Department of Defense to invest in manufacturing capabilities that are key to increasing the production rate of personal protective equipment and medical equipment to meet the demand of healthcare workers all across the nation.
- Assistance to Firefighter Grants - $100 million for personal protective equipment for first responders.
- Personal Protective Equipment - $178 million for the Department of Homeland Security to ensure front line federal employees have personal protective equipment.
Disaster Assistance
- Disaster Relief Fund - $45 billion to provide for the immediate needs of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Reimbursable activities may include medical response, personal protective equipment, National Guard deployment, coordination of logistics, safety measures, and community services nationwide.
- Emergency Management Performance Grants - $100 million for state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to support coordination, communications, and logistics.
- National Guard - $1.4 billion for deployments to sustain up to 20,000 members of the National Guard, under the direction of the governors of each state, for the next six months in order to support state and local response efforts.
- FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program - $200 million
Deadline Extensions
- REAL ID Deadline for States - Extends the deadline for states to meet the requirements of the REAL ID Act to not earlier than September 30, 2021.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill as early as Friday. This will not be the final COVID-19 relief bill, and the NLC will continue to push Congress to:
- Ensure an allocation of federal funding directly to cities and towns for local budget relief, and any population threshold for direct funding should be as low as possible, but not above 50,000.
- Approve additional supplementary funding to put residents impacted financially by the COVID-19 response on the path of economic mobility, to the greatest extent possible.
- Provide governmental employers the access to tax credits for the paid sick and paid emergency leave that they are required to provide to employees.
Contact: Scott Winkels, Lobbyist - swinkels@orcities.org
Last Updated 3/27/20