Washington, D.C. — Today, Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02) voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan, a comprehensive relief package aimed at lifting up struggling American businesses and families, supporting frontline health care workers and first responders, providing key relief to state and local governments, and addressing the public health and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hardworking Granite State families, small businesses, health care workers, and first responders are hurting because of the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis,” said Rep. Kuster. “Support cannot come soon enough, and I’m pleased the House took action and passed this much-needed and forward-looking legislation.”

“The American Rescue Plan Act will provide critical resources for our NH communities to build back from this pandemic,” Rep. Kuster continued. “The plan includes funding to re-open schools safely to get students back into classrooms, extend key relief to small businesses to keep employees on staff, and ensure our frontline workers and first responders have the supplies they need to safely do their jobs and protect our communities. Additionally, this bill will provide funding to bolster our nationwide vaccine rollout and ensure that the United States is able to mass-produce and administer COVID-19 vaccines to all Americans. There’s a lot of work to be done, and I’m committed to building back better so no one is left behind as we recover from this pandemic.”

The American Rescue Plan will:

• Get Vaccines in Arms: The plan will mount a national vaccination program that includes setting up community vaccination sites nationwide. It will also take measures to combat the virus, including scaling up testing and tracing, addressing shortages of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, investing in high-quality treatments, and addressing health care disparities.  
• Put Children Safely Back in School: The plan will make a nearly $130 billion investment in school re-opening and making up for lost learning.
• Put Money in People’s Pockets: The plan finishes the job on the President’s promise to provide $2,000 in direct assistance to households across America with checks of $1,400 per person, following the $600 down payment enacted in December.
• Keep the Lights on: The plan will provide direct housing and nutrition assistance, expand access to safe and reliable child care and affordable health care, extend and expand unemployment insurance so that 19 million American workers can pay their bills, and support 27 million children with an expanded Child Tax Credit and 15 million low-wage workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit.
• Put People Back in Jobs: The plan will provide crucial support for the hardest-hit small businesses, especially those owned by entrepreneurs from racial and ethnic backgrounds that have experienced systemic discrimination, with EIDL grants, expanded PPP eligibility and more. The plan also provides crucial resources to protect the jobs of first responders, frontline public health workers, teachers, transit workers and other essential workers that all Americans depend on.
• Support Local Towns and First Responders: The American Rescue Plan includes $350 billion in funding to state and local governments that have experienced devastating revenue declines due to the pandemic. These budget shortfalls jeopardize critical public services, and New Hampshire is slated to receive nearly $1 billion in assistance for state and municipal governments. 

Kuster has been a longtime advocate for a more proactive federal response to the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. This week, Kuster spoke on the House Floor urging passage of the American Rescue Plan. Two bills Rep. Kuster introduced this year to bolster and quicken our nationwide vaccine rollout were included in the relief bill – the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act and the Coronavirus Vaccine and Therapeutic Development Act.

Earlier this month, Kuster advocated for congressional action on COVID-19 legislation and called for bipartisan support for her legislation, the Coronavirus Vaccine and Therapeutic Development Act, to ensure that the United States will be able to mass-produce and administer COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics quickly and efficiently. Also this year, Kuster introduced bipartisan legislation to bolster and quicken our nationwide vaccine rollout. The Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act would improve and expand real-time communication between state and federal governments, as well as public and private health care providers, to ensure vaccines are being administered effectively and efficiently across all states and territories.

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