Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and promote growth across America. The Act created Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) to provide $350 billion to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments “to provide government services to the extent necessary because revenues have declined due to the pandemic” and to “respond to public health emergency or its economic consequences.”
The bill provides $219.8 billion, available through December 31, 2024, for states, territories and tribal governments to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19. Of this amount, a total of $195.3 billion is set aside for direct federal aid to states and D.C., $4.5 billion in payments to territories, and $20 billion for payments to tribal governments.
The bill provides a total of $130.2 billion, to remain available through December 31, 2024, for metropolitan cities, municipalities and counties. Of this amount, $45.57 billion is set aside for payments to metropolitan cities using the formula for Community Development Block Grants, $65.1 billion for counties with populations of 200,000 or more, and $19.53 billion for cities and counties with populations under 50,000. The language specifies that amounts provided to a locality cannot exceed 75 percent of the local government’s budget as of January 27, 2020.
According to calculations from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the Northeast will receive the following:
Connecticut – $4.35 billion
Maine – $1.65 billion
Massachusetts – $8.10 billion
New Hampshire – $1.54 billion
New Jersey – $10.19 billion
New York – $23.8 billion
Rhode Island – $1.78 billion
Vermont – $1.36 billion