U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced on March 7 at a briefing at his New York City offices, that the “American Rescue Plan that passed the U.S. Senate would

NEW YORK—U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced on March 7 at a briefing at his New York City offices, that the “American Rescue Plan that passed the U.S. Senate would have an impact on New York State that approaches $100 billion.

As part of the deal, more than $23.8 billion flows directly to New York State government(s) on top of increased education funding, transit funding and highways, vaccine distribution, COVID health funding, emergency rental and housing assistance.

“Back in November, the American people and New Yorkers sent a crystal-clear message to the previous administration: deliver the robust COVID relief this country needs or get out of the way. The deal we reached with the help of a new president, and a new democratic Senate marks real relief to the tune of $100 billion for workers, families, healthcare, small businesses, including our hard-hit industries like restaurants, and New York—the things we need to support in order to weather this crisis and then work to recover,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer.

“This marks the second biggest stimulus bill in the nation’s history—second to the CARES Act—and it comes just in time, because Americans and New York still need real help to get through this,” Sen. Schumer added.

The details and the tentative estimated impact on New York include:

State and Local Fiscal Relief

$23.8 billion for New York—Total amount of funding provided to New York State through the state and local fiscal relief fund, to keep first responders, frontline health workers, and other providers of vital services safely on the job as states and local governments roll out vaccines and fight to rebuild Main Street economies. Funding can be used for assistance to households, small businesses, nonprofits, aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality, investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, and to provide premium pay to frontline workers. Local governments of every size, including all counties, cities, towns, and villages, receive dedicated federal aid awards. A new $10-billion capital projects program also support state broadband deployment efforts. Funds are allocated in New York as follows:

• $12.569 billion for New York State Government;

• $6.141 billion for New York City;

• $3.907 billion for New York’s counties;

• $825 million for New York’s small cities, towns, and villages; and

• $358 million for a New York State Broadband Investment Program.

Additional Aid To New York

$2.7 billion: Medicaid FMAP increase ($2.1 billion already delivered. Schumer is pushing President Biden to extend through the end of the calendar year, in addition to approximately $600 million from a targeted enhanced FMAP for home and community-based services from this legislation)

• $7+ billion: New York Area Transit ($6.5 billion to MTA) The New York State Department of Transportation will receive $12 million directly to support rural transit systems. The remainder will support county bus services, and upstate transit agencies.

• $418 million: For New York’s hard-hit airports to continue operating safely during the pandemic. Port Authority Airports will receive: $218 million for JFK Airport, $107 million for LaGuardia Airport, $4 million for New York Stewart International Airport, and $164 million for Newark Liberty Airport. This includes $60 million in relief at the four airports for large and small concessionaire businesses that have been hard-hit by the pandemic and unable to pay minimum guarantees to airports.

$1.7 billion: Relief for Amtrak to help maintain operations and other expenditures during the pandemic, especially in New York.

$15 billion: The CARES Act Airline Payroll Support Program which will save thousands of New York airline and airline contractor jobs by keeping workers on payroll without furloughs or reducing pay rates and benefits until March 31, 2021 New York will receive sizable share of these funds.

Other Business-Related Funding

• $786 million: Earned Income Tax Credit payment to New York families.

• More than $1 billion in additional Emergency Rental Assistance and assistance for preventing homelessness.

• $575 million in mortgage and utility assistance for homeowners.

• An estimated $21.7 Billion for NY in Enhanced Unemployment Insurance Benefits.

• More Than $22 Billion in Direct Payments for NY: The American Rescue Plan includes an additional round of Economic Impact Payments of $1,400 for individuals making up to $75,000 per year and $2,800 for couples making up to $150,000 per year. Eligible families will also receive an additional $1,400 payment per child and adult dependent, amounting to $5,600 for an average family of four. Nearly 9 million New York households will receive another round of direct payments, helping them to cover essential expenses like food, rent or mortgages, and medical bills during this crisis.

• Roughly $4 billion to support more vaccines, testing and healthcare in New York

• $28.6 billion for restaurants: A new restaurant relief fund, modeled on the widely support, bipartisan RESTAURANTS Act, which will provide flexible grants through the Small Business Administration as a lifeline for New York’s restaurant industry, one of the hardest hit by the economic effects of the COVID pandemic. Food service or drinking establishments, including caterers, brewpubs, taprooms, and tasting rooms, that are not part of an affiliated group with more than 20 locations will be eligible. To provide comprehensive support to local restaurants, grants from the fund could be used alongside first and second Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance, and the Employee Retention Tax Credit.

The new restaurants relief fund will be designed to provide flexible grants of up to $10 million per restaurant group, $5 million per individual restaurant, that can be used to cover payroll, mortgages or rent, setup for outdoor seating, PPE, paid leave, food and other supplies, or debt and other expenses. Grants can be spent on eligible expenses from 2/15/20 through 12/31/21 and the SBA Administrator may extend the period through two years from enactment if conditions warrant. $5 billion of the $25 billion total is reserved for restaurants with less than $500,000 in gross receipts in 2019 for the first 60 days of the program. During the initial 21-day period, the administrator will prioritize awarding grants to eligible entities that are owned or controlled by women or Veterans or are socially and economically disadvantaged businesses.

$1.25 billion and a Key Fix for Save Our Stages: The bill provides an additional $1.25 billion for hard-hit independent live venues, performing arts organizations, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions. The bill also includes a critical fix that allows venues to access a PPP loan and a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, deducting the PPP loan amount from the grant amount. Including access to both programs will provide a much-needed source of additional capital as these struggling businesses and nonprofits try to stay afloat during the crisis.

• $15 billion for SBA Targeted EIDL Grants: The funding will provide hard-hit, underserved small businesses with increased flexible grant relief. These grants will be particularly helpful for very small businesses and sole proprietors, which include over 90% of minority-owned businesses that have been disproportionately devastated by this crisis.

• Expanded PPP Eligibility for Nonprofits: This bill makes additional 501(c) nonprofits eligible for PPP. It also makes local offices of larger nonprofits eligible for PPP assistance as long as those locations are not larger than 500 employees for first PPP loans or 300 employees for second PPP loans, expanding access to vital relief for nonprofit organizations that are critical to local services and the economy.

• Community Navigator Program for Underserved Businesses: $100 million is included to fund community organizations and community financial institutions with a focus on and experience working in minority, immigrant, and rural communities to serve as community navigators to help connect small business owners in these communities to critical resources, including small business loans, business licenses, and federal, state, and local business assistance programs.

• $10 billion for Small Business Opportunity Fund: This funding available through the Treasury Department is modeled on the State Small Business Credit Initiative and will support state and local capital and technical assistance initiatives for small businesses responding to and recovering from the pandemic, which will be particularly beneficial to minority-owned and other underserved small businesses.

• $3 billion for Economic Development Grants, Including for Tourism and Travel: $3 billion is included for the Economic Development Administration to provide flexible grants for rebuilding the local economies of communities that have experienced significant job loss from COVID-19. A $750 million set-aside is included for assistance to states and communities that have suffered from job and GDP loss in the tourism, travel and outdoor recreation sectors.

• Extended Employee Retention Tax Credit: The bill extends through the end of 2021 the refundable payroll tax credit designed to help employers keep more of their valued workers on payroll during this economic crisis. This tax credit is available to struggling New York companies and nonprofits of all sizes, and is equal to 70% of qualified wages up to $10,000 per employee per quarter.