WASHINGTON — The White House estimates the House’s American Rescue Plan will provide North Carolina with $5.3 billion in state fiscal relief, $3.8 billion in local fiscal relief and more than $3.9 billion in relief for K-12 schools, according to figures shared with Channel 9.
The plan also includes $1,400 checks for people making under $75,000 and $2,800 checks for married couples making under $150,000.
“We believe that this bill goes right at the crises that families across the country are facing, housing insecurity food insecurity, higher childcare costs, closed schools,” White House Deputy Communications Director Kate Berner said. “It meets those crises and helps deliver us on a path to recovery.”
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A federal vaccine distribution site is opening in Greensboro next week. The site will have the capability of vaccinating up to 3,000 people per day. It will be open seven days a week. The city of Charlotte estimates it will receive $149 million if the American Rescue Plan is signed into law.
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The American Rescue Plan is expected to be taken up by the U.S. Senate this week. It passed in the House on a party-line vote. Charlotte Rep. Dan Bishop, R, NC-09, called the plan “a partisan liberal wish list.”
Since February 2020, more than 229,000 fewer people are employed in North Carolina and an estimated 435,000 North Carolina renters, or 19% of renters, are not caught up on rent, according to the White House. An estimated 2,644,000 North Carolina adults, or 35% of all adults statewide, report having difficulty covering normal household expenses, officials with the White House said.
Berner said President Joe Biden is open to talking to governors and mayors about state and local funding allocation as well as to reviewing the income threshold for stimulus checks. But she said Biden believes the checks are being targeted correctly.
“There’s a lot of middle-class families who are hurting and it’s our job to make sure that they can get through this crisis and recover for their families and their communities,” she said.
Other benefits of the plan to North Carolinians, according to the White House:
- Additional relief of up to $1,600 per child through the Child Tax Credit to the families of 924,000 children, lifting 137,000 children out of poverty
- Additional relief of up to nearly $1,000 through the Earned Income Tax Credit to 603,000 childless workers, including many in frontline jobs
- monthly increase in nutrition assistance of about $27 per person for 1,463,000 people, according to the most recent estimates
- Marketplace health insurance premiums that are $800 lower per month for a family of four earning $120,000 per year
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