Metro Atlanta City, County Leaders Celebrate One-Year Anniversary of American Rescue Plan

Today, metro Atlanta city and county officials held a press conference to celebrate the one-year anniversary of President Biden signing the American Rescue Plan into law. Speakers discussed the sweeping impact the relief package has had on their communities and highlighted the economic boom it brought Georgia, including record-low unemployment rates and hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Speakers also highlighted how – while President Biden and Democrats delivered tax cuts for middle-class families, relief for small businesses, and free COVID-19 vaccines for millions of Georgians – Republicans’ only agenda would hike taxes and raise premiums for Georgians, including seniors and retirees.

Watch footage from the press conference here.
 

“It is no exaggeration to say that President Biden and the Democrats’ Rescue Plan quite literally saved the lives of hundreds, if not tens of millions of citizens, and the livelihoods of others across the state and across our nation – and especially right here in metro Atlanta,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said. “Unfortunately, the truth must be told: had it been up to just Georgia Republicans, we would be exactly the way we were one year ago when unemployment rates were at historic highs, vaccines weren’t accessible to every Georgian, and families and small businesses were struggling just to keep their doors open. Every Georgia Republican – including Governor Kemp and candidate Herschel Walker – opposed the American Rescue Plan. They criticized it, they derided it, and they did everything they could to prevent it from becoming law.”
 

“I come here today to tell you all that President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act is one of the most impactful and important pieces of legislation that Washington has passed in my over 15 years of public service, but also in this nation’s history. Small businesses, seniors, workers, children, and families across Georgia have all benefited tremendously from this historic economic package,” Union City Mayor Vince Williams, President of the National League of Cities, said. “The plans we’ve seen put forward would actually raise taxes on over 40% of Georgians, including seniors and retirees. And that’s hard to even imagine when you think about the added burden to our seniors and hard-working individuals who have now taken the opportunity, or thought they were going to take the opportunity, to retire. This agenda of tax hikes and raised premiums would be disastrous for Union City, disastrous for metro Atlanta, and disastrous for all Georgia cities.”

“We’re grateful to the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats for delivering an economic agenda that is still helping us uplift our communities one year later. And as CEO Thurmond said, I can’t recall in my lifetime a package that has had an impact that this package is having today and will continue to have. The governor should be thanking President Biden for saving Georgia’s economy, especially considering the fact that the agenda of tax hikes and raised premiums could destroy all the programs that the President and Democrats have delivered in this state,” Robb Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said. “Coming off this historic year of record economic growth, job creation, and fighting against the pandemic, President Biden has made clear that his administration remains focused on the work still to be done to ensure working Georgians can get ahead. So we need both Democrats and right-thinking Republicans to come together to pass the rest of the Biden-Harris agenda because our communities are looking forward to the results that this administration continues to deliver.”

###