“With no time to lose, the American Rescue Plan released by President-elect Joe Biden holds great promise for Tampa Bay area families, students and small businesses to accelerate vaccinations, crush the coronavirus, and deliver direct, immediate relief to those hardest hit.

“America is in the midst of a national emergency with both health and economic crises. We must act right away on the urgent threats of COVID-19 and its economic fallout. I pledge to work to dramatically expand vaccination and testing efforts in Florida and bring aid back home to Tampa expeditiously.

“In order to contain the coronavirus, we’ll need to finally establish a concerted, coordinated whole-of-government effort to get vaccinations into the arms of Americans. That starts with leadership at the White House, and I am grateful that President-elect Biden and his team will have the best of our nation’s public health experts at the helm from day one. It will be a refreshing change from the chaos, disinformation and lack of transparency that have plagued the Trump and DeSantis response to COVID-19 over the past ten months.

“President-elect Biden has also laid out a comprehensive plan to address the ongoing economic crisis that will boost schools and work towards a safe, nationwide re-opening of in-person classes, get our neighbors back to work, and help hard-hit families and small businesses.  The plan provides $130 billion to help schools to not reopen safely, but also to meet students' academic, mental health as well as social and emotional needs in response to COVID-19.  Many in Tampa and across the country are struggling with day-to-day realities like putting food on the table, affording childcare, and paying rent. The American Rescue Plan will meet the immediate needs of those in our community by finishing the job on providing $1400 direct cash assistance payments, increasing federal unemployment insurance (UI) to $400/week, providing paid leave and extending UI and the eviction moratorium through September. This plan will also provide local and state governments $350B in funding to keep our essential workers on the job and keep vital public services like HART running.

“I stand ready to work with President-elect Biden and my colleagues in the House and Senate from day one to bring this crisis to an end. There is much more that needs to be done to ramp up vaccination and aid the Americans who are bearing the brunt of this economic crisis, and the American Rescue Plan offers an efficient and equitable response to the immediate needs of so many.”

More information on the American Rescue Plan can be found here.