MACON, Ga. — Stimulus money is one step closer to hitting the accounts of more than 4.5 million Georgians after President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Thursday.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) says a chunk of the money in the COVID relief bill will help Georgians beyond the stimulus checks.
Q: Gov. Kemp has come out and said the bill is not good for Georgia because we’ve been open for so long. Can you talk about that?
A: $1400 checks in direct payments. $4 billion to help Georgia school reopen safely. $20 billion to help distribute the vaccine (nationwide). I’m not sure who he’s talking to.
Q: $50 billion is going to small businesses. We do know last time that minority businesses didn’t see a lot of that, so can you tell us how this is going to be equitable?
A: You’re right. Small businesses were at the back of the line while big conglomerates like Shake Shack got money. This time we worked with credit unions – places that typically work with small businesses. A total of $15 billion over in the credit union space.
Q: What difference are you hoping these child tax credits can do for Georgia families?
A: There are more than 170,000 Georgia children who are going to be taken out of poverty because of this.
Warnock said it’s also the most money Georgia has received in any of the COVID-19 relief bills.
You can hear more from Sen. Warnock below:
He also broke down what some of the money in Georgia will be going toward.
- $47.4 million in local funding for Macon-Bibb County;
- $2 million for urban transit funding in Macon;
- $1,400 direct payments for 4.6 million Georgians;
- Extension of $300/week expanded unemployment insurance benefits;
- More than $4 billion for Georgia schools to reopen safely;
- More than $8 billion to Georgia’s state government, and city and local governments, to keep essential workers safe and on the job;
- Over $550 million to help Georgians with rental assistance, and additional funds to help families pay their mortgages and utilities;
- Nearly $2 billion to expand Medicaid, which would insure 500,000 uncovered Georgians and then some;
- Expanding two tax refund programs — the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit — that he says will put thousands of extra dollars in people’s pockets and cut child poverty in half nationwide, including lifting more than 170,000 Georgian children out of poverty;
- $20 billion to help strengthen vaccine distribution & equity nationwide
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