National Association of Counties Sends Letter to House Leaders Urging Swift Passage of Bipartisan Bill to Increase Flexibility for American Rescue Plan Act Funds

WASHINGTON – The National Association of Counties (NACo) today sent a letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy calling for the passage of the bipartisan State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Fiscal Recovery, Infrastructure, and Disaster Relief Flexibility Act (S. 3011). The bill, unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate, would provide state and local governments flexibility to invest a portion of critical aid to state and local governments in the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in transportation, infrastructure and government services. 

An excerpt from the letter reads:

This flexibility is crucial as some local governments struggle to make necessary investments in their community in compliance with the existing guidance for the funds.

"While this legislation would provide much-needed flexibility, it would neither mandate funds be used in any particular way nor would it increase overall federal spending. The legislation would also cap the amount of funds that a recipient could use for the newly eligible activities, thereby ensuring Recovery Funds are not diverted from addressing the public health emergency and its impacts. This legislation is especially significant for rural areas, which account for nearly 70 percent of America’s counties. County officials in those areas often have a wide variety of responsibilities that do not align with currently allowable uses of the Recovery Funds.

America's counties have been engaged in our nation's response to COVID-19 since the earliest days, and providing local leaders with flexible, essential financial resources is the surest way to see that our nation's preparedness and responsivity continues. With the additional flexibility provided by S. 3011, the true intent of the ARPA – to assist state, local and tribal governments in their recovery from the disastrous impacts of the global pandemic – can be realized.”

Read the full letter here.

The American Rescue Plan, which NACo helped to develop and strongly advocated to pass, includes $65.1 billion in direct, flexible aid for every county, parish and borough in America. Visit NACo’s COVID-19 Recovery Clearinghouse here.