The American Rescue Plan or the $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Bill, which President Joe Biden signed into law, will give way to the financial help of the federal government to the Americans. The American Rescue Plan that will be used to give $1,400 stimulus checks, reinforce the COVID-19 vaccine roll, and help to reopen the schools amid a pandemic will also be help states and counties in the United States.

The American Rescue plan has opened doors for states and local governments, which are facing great dilemmas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Stimulus Bill, States, and Local Government

One of the counties that will benefit from the American Rescue Plan is Hidalgo County. Located in the Southern tip of Texas, the said county is one of the counties that have experienced heavy blows from the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rates, hurricanes, and even winter that put the county into deep freeze as the Texas state experienced an abnormal winter, according to a report from The New York Times.

World News Era noted that local governments took a harder blow than the states during the pandemic. Since February 2020, there is a higher unemployment rate in local levels among the 1.3 million jobs lost among states and local governments recorded since February 2020.

The New York Times mentioned Richard Cortez, the top elected official in the County of Hidalgo, saying that it is still early for their county to allocate and divide their money according to their county's expenditures. However, the American Rescue Plan can utilize the money that will be awarded to them by the federal government for pandemic-related concerns, providing essential services, and even use the budget for water, broadband, and sewer projects.

The financial aid that will be given to the states will be based on their unemployment rate. Also, according to rules,the funds cannot be used to pay down pension obligations and even cutting off taxes. Aside from Hidalgo County, several states have already planned where to use the financial aid from the federal government. The stimulus bill will be able to help the City of Fresno located in California's San Joaquin valley as it faces a potential layoff of about 200 city employees, including police officers and firefighters, because of their city deficit that costs about $25 Million. The New York Times noted that the city is poised to receive $177 million that will end the layoff topics in the city.

Republicans and the Rescue Plan

It can be remembered that the American Rescue Plan was able to be passed by the House and Senate despite the complete opposition of the Republicans claiming that the big amount of expenditure to be provided by the Federal Government will cover issues that are not related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bharat Express News noted the Republicans in Congress argued that the Stimulus Bill or the funding formula based on the unemployment rate instead of the population benefits more Democratic-led states and will have a great impact on the Republican ones.

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