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President-elect Biden’s American Rescue Plan includes bold investments that would significantly reduce the unprecedented levels of hardship in California and across the nation that have been spurred by COVID-19.

The plan would:

• Extend the recently enacted 15% SNAP benefit boost through at least September.
• Provide $3 billion in funding to support increased enrollment in the WIC program.
• Invest $40 billion to help stabilize the child care system.
• Fund much needed state fiscal relief, including $130 billion to help schools reopen safely.
• Provide significant economic relief for Americans, including an extension of unemployment insurance benefits through at-least September, temporarily expand the ChildTax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, provide an additional $1 billion that states can use to provide additional cash assistance to low-income families through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, and one-time funding to provide direct payments ($1,400) to qualifying households.

Nourish California commends the Biden Administration for proposing a plan that would help mitigate the scope and scale of harm from COVID-19. In communities across our state, people are still out of work because of the pandemic. The continued spread of the virus makes it hard for people to go back to their jobs or find new jobs if their employer had to close permanently. The unemployment rate is still more than double what it was before the pandemic and in mid-December more than one in four California adults struggled with household food insecurity. The bold investments proposed by the Biden Administration would help millions of Californians who are still reeling from the effects of COVID-19.

Nourish California stands ready to work with Congress and the incoming Administration on this plan and urges its quick passage.

For additional analysis of the American Rescue Plan please read the following statements from our national partners at CBPP  and FRAC.