BY THE NUMBERS: How President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Has Saved, Improved Georgians’ Lives

Since the Biden-Harris administration and Georgia Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan, millions of Georgia families, small businesses, and communities have received life-changing relief — despite Brian Kemp and Georgia Republicans’ unanimous opposition. For seven months, Georgians have seen the benefits of the President’s historic action to revitalize our economy, get families back on their feet, and make vaccines available to every American. If Georgia Republicans had their way though, Georgia families would not see a penny of this relief.

Read more about how the American Rescue Plan has directly impacted Georgians:

Families and Affordable Child Care

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: As pandemic squeezes budgets, Georgia families lean on child tax credit checks

• Payments help autistic child get therapy, family avoid eviction, couple cope with job loss, mother pay bills
• Amid a pandemic, there’s often little consolation for those enduring extreme hardship, especially families with young children. However, to ease some of those challenges, the federal government this year enhanced the federal child tax credit.
• Under the American Rescue Act, the program was broadened to include most families, including the poorest of the poor, who haven’t been eligible before because they didn’t earn enough to file taxes. And instead of making families wait until tax time to get the money, the government offered them immediate help: monthly payments of up to $300 per child for the remainder of the year.
• Hundreds of thousands of Georgia families are receiving the payments. So far, payments to those families have totaled more than $1 billion, according to data from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: More Georgia families to get child care subsidy

• Starting next month, an additional 10,000 low-income families will get help from the state to pay for child care. That’s a 20% increase over the 50,000 who get help now. Also, the state will be giving care providers more money if they provide higher quality service, which generally means paying teachers more.
• The expanded parent subsidy is temporary: it will be funded from next month through September 2024 using money from the American Rescue Plan Act.

WTOC (Savannah): Ga. childcare providers to receive funding from American Rescue Plan

• Georgia childcare providers are getting a massive boost in funding through the American Rescue Plan – to the tune of nearly $1.6 billion.
• Childcare providers are another industry that’s been hit hard over the last year.
• Secretary Walsh says this money will bring Americans one step closer to recovering from the pandemic.
• Secretary Walsh also says the money through the American Rescue Plans expands the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
• Families with an income below $125,000 can receive $4,000 to $8,000 for two or more children when they file their taxes.

Vaccine Incentives

Athens Banner-Herald: Athens officials approve program offering up to $200 for new COVID-19 vaccinations

• Athens residents and workers who get a COVID-19 vaccine can receive $100 gift cards per vaccine dose through a new program.
• The project will be funded by $250,000 from the American Rescue Plan, which allocated nearly $60 million to Athens.  The program’s success will be evaluated on a monthly basis, to determine if more funds from the American Rescue Plan should be spent on the program.

Gwinnett Daily Post: Gwinnett County will offer $100 gift cards as incentive to get COVID-19 vaccine on Friday and Saturday

• Gwinnett County officials are turning to incentives in an effort to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19.
• County officials will offer $100 Visa gift cards to people 12 and older who get a vaccine shot during the Vaccines Aren’t Scary event that is being staged in partnership with the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale Health Departments on Friday and Saturday at the mass vaccination site located in the former Sears store at Gwinnett Place Mall. 
• The vaccine incentive gift cards are being paid for with federal funding that came to Gwinnett as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

Augusta Chronicle: Augusta OKs $100 COVID vaccine incentive, wage increase

• The Augusta Commission reversed course Thursday, voting 6-2 to implement Vax-up Augusta, a $100 vaccine incentive and education campaign to get residents fully vaccinated.
• The package approved by commissioners increases the city’s minimum wage to $15 and awarded bonuses of up to $2,500 to public safety and other personnel.
• Eligibility for the $100 gift cards began immediately, said Administrator Odie Donald II, who developed the three-pronged American Rescue Plan program.

Schools and Classrooms

Georgia Recorder: COVID relief helps students, teachers get ready for school days back in class

• Lawmakers are hoping teachers’ efforts will be bolstered by an infusion of federal cash from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
• Georgia’s public schools have been awarded more than $4.2 billion from the federal aid plan. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education approved the state’s plan for the final round of $1.4 billion spending on Georgia schools.
• The majority of the funding – 90% – will go directly to school districts. About $425 million will be used to take care of statewide needs, as required by the federal legislation. School districts are required by federal law to spend 20% of their allotment to make up for learning loss, and the state is required to use 5% of its money to address learning loss, 1% to support summer enrichment, and 1% to support after-school programs.
• At the state level, Georgia will use the money to catch up after lost learning opportunities, remove barriers to learning, and personalize support for students, schools, and educators, said State School Superintendent Richard Woods.

Health Care

WGXA (Macon): Macon community health centers get $1.3M in American Rescue Plan funds

• Two health care centers in Macon-Bibb are getting financial support from American Rescue Plan funds.
• Senators Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff said Monday they secured funding for health centers across the state.
• In Macon, that’s Community Health Care Systems and First Choice Primary Care.
• Community Health Care Systems is getting $739,349, while First Choice is getting $619,988.
• First Choice Primary Care, a private non-profit center, tells us the grant money is intended for infrastructure. They intend to use the funds to improve and expand their clinical sites.

WTVM (Columbus): Local healthcare centers to receive more than $2 million in American Rescue Plan funds

• Healthcare centers across Georgia will receive some additional funding thanks to US Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
• The two secured over $22 million for health care centers across the state. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan which passed earlier this year.
• More than $2 million will go to two health care centers in Columbus. CareConnect Health will receive $1,457,022 in funds, while Valley Healthcare will receive $620,659.

First Responders and Government Employees

Georgia Recorder: Kemp announces $1,000 bonuses for police, EMTs as spotlight on crime remains

• Gov. Brian Kemp Monday announced a $1,000 bonus for police officers, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders as part of ongoing efforts to support frontline workers during the pandemic.
• As part of the grant supplement program, up to $100 million in federal coronavirus relief money will be set aside to cover an estimated 80,000 Georgians working in public safety positions. 
• The bonus supplement is coming from $4.9 billion allocated for Georgia’s state government through the American Rescue Plan that passed in March without any Republican support from the state’s congressional delegation. 

CBS46 (Atlanta): Premium Pay: $500 extra dollars headed to city workers who ‘keep Atlanta running’

• Men and women who risk their health in order to keep the city of Atlanta running are getting a bonus. Atlanta City Council approved the monthly payments in what’s being called “pandemic premium pay,”
• Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act will supply employees like Atlanta’s sanitation workers with an extra $500 a month, which will appear in addition to their regularly scheduled paychecks.

Broadband

Albany Herald: Broadband project could provide access to 3,000 Dougherty households

• The Dougherty County Commission took action Monday on a proposal that could provide broadband internet connection to up to 90 percent of residents in unincorporated areas.
• “We’re predicting 3,116 new customers” could be reached through the project, Jeremy Brown, project engineer for the county’s Public Works Department, told commissioners at a Monday meeting.
• Commissioners approved applying for a $15.59 million grant through the state’s Fiscal Recovery/American Rescue Plan Broadband Infrastructure Improvements program. The county’s share, if approved, is estimated at a little over $1 million.

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