Rep. Castor on House Passage of American Rescue Plan: Help is on the Way

Statement

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement upon House passage of the American Rescue Plan:

"We are truly at a precarious moment in America. Too many families, workers and small businesses are hurting from the pandemic and its economic fallout.

"In Florida, we lost a half a million jobs last year and suffered the second highest number of unemployment claims in the country. We rely on tourism and it wasn't safe for many visitors to travel, and that had consequences.

"The bipartisan CARES Act that passed last March was credited with saving the economy, but it hasn't taken us all the way through the pandemic. The American Rescue plan is that bridge, with a plan to help us get back to normal.

"Thanks to President Biden and his team, we have a national vaccination strategy. They have brought order to the chaos with 50 million shots administered in the past 37 days. No other country has done that.

"Six weeks ago, 14 percent of people over age 75 in the US had gotten one COVID vaccine shot. Today, that number stands at nearly 60 percent.

"Out of the 55 million Americans who are over 65, six weeks ago, only 8 percent had gotten a shot. Today, almost 50 percent have gotten at least one shot. We have a long way to go, but what a vast improvement since the Biden team has been at the helm.

"We must do more to ensure that underserved communities have access to the vaccine. Next week, thanks to the Biden administration, we will open a mass vaccination site in the heart of Tampa, in Sulphur Springs (at the Tampa Greyhound Track), and more pharmacies and community health centers will have more COVID-19 vaccines as well, but to get everyone vaccinated, we need to pass this rescue plan.

"Until most Americans are vaccinated, families and children will need help, so our plan provides new $1400 survival payments, emergency food and rental aid, and extra unemployment insurance to tide us over while ensuring support for struggling small businesses.

"It's critical that families have the resources for their children and an expanded Child Tax Credit will provide money every month to help keep kids out of poverty. Our plan provides community support dollars to the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County, who have been good partners in keeping families afloat.

"Democrats and the Biden administration are focused on schools being open and operating safely. We have a lot of ground to make up-- so let's give students, teachers and local school districts the help they need to boost student achievement, summer school, safe graduations, early preK and childcare.

"The Rescue Plan also provides several vital provisions to make comprehensive health care coverage more affordable and accessible for millions of people, especially in Florida, with a financial incentive to rapidly expand Medicaid and enact other proposals to improve access to health coverage during the health and economic crisis.

"Democrats are not going to give up on raising the minimum wage either. It has not been increased from $7.25 for over 11 years. Florida voters overwhelmingly passed a phased-in increase to $15/hour last November and it's time to give all American minimum wage workers a raise. A $15 minimum wage would not only give 3 million Floridians--37 percent of the state's workforce--a raise, but it would also provide an extra $10.5 billion in total state wages and even more in economic activity.

"To all Americans, help is on the way."

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