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Norton Hails House Passage of American Rescue Plan Act, Sending Bill to President’s Desk for Signature

March 10, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement after the House today passed the Senate-passed version of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, sending the bill to the President's desk for signature:

"With final passage of the American Rescue Plan Act in the House today, this bill is now on its way to the President's desk, with an estimated $2.3 billion in fiscal relief I got for the District of Columbia. Importantly, this bill includes state-, city-, and county-level fiscal relief for the District, since D.C. provides each level of service, and $755 million in retroactive CARES Act fiscal relief to fix D.C.'s treatment as a territory instead of a state for fiscal relief in the CARES Act. D.C. is almost always treated as a state for federal funding purposes because its residents pay full federal taxes.

"Last year at this time, D.C. endured a gut punch when, during the beginning of a catastrophic, unpredictable pandemic, Senate Republicans deliberately withheld funding from the District by categorizing it as a territory instead of a state for fiscal relief in the CARES Act.

"Since March 27, 2020, when the CARES Act was enacted, over 41,000 D.C. residents have tested positive for COVID-19, and 1,035 have died. The American Rescue Plan Act arms the District with the tools to fight the coronavirus. It will save lives by increasing the breadth of D.C.'s coronavirus response efforts, it will save jobs by increasing the number of small businesses that will survive this pandemic, and it will provide much-needed relief to D.C. families."

In addition to the D.C. provisions, this bill contains many other Norton priorities, including direct payments of $1,400 per person, funding for WMATA and other public transit, extended and increased supplemental unemployment benefits, and rental assistance.

Norton spoke on the House floor yesterday in support of this bill. Her remarks can be viewed here.

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