WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Governor Asa Hutchinson will travel to Washington D.C. Friday (Feb. 12) to meet with President Joe Biden about the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan.
According to the governor's communication director, Katie Beck, Gov. Hutchinson will meet with President Biden and other governors and mayors to discuss the COVID-19 plan.
According to a White House press release from Jan. 20, specifically, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan will:
- Mount a national vaccination program, contain COVID-19, and safely reopen schools, including by setting up community vaccination sites nationwide, scaling up testing and tracing, eliminating supply shortage problems, investing in high-quality treatments, providing paid sick leave to contain spread of the virus, addressing health disparities, and making the necessary investments to meet the president’s goal of safely reopening a majority of K-8 schools in the first 100 days.
- Deliver immediate relief to working families bearing the brunt of this crisis bysending $1,400 per-person checks to households across America, providing direct housing and nutrition assistance, expanding access to safe and reliable childcare and affordable healthcare, increasing the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance, and giving families with kids and childless workers an emergency boost this year.
- Support communities that are struggling in the wake of COVID-19 by providing support for the hardest-hit small businesses, especially small businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color, and protecting the jobs of the first responders, transit workers, and other essential workers we depend on.
The president has proposed $350 billion in support for state and local government, which means keeping cops, firefighters, public health workers, teachers and other public servants on the job in the fight against the virus.
That funding will also help cities, counties and states receive more COVID-19 vaccines, according to Wednesday's (Feb. 10) White House press briefing.