Today, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) announced her support for President-elect Biden’s American Rescue Plan. She issued the following statement:

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I’ve spoken with thousands of Pennsylvanians, all of whom need help to weather this crisis,” said Houlahan. “We need a comprehensive and strategic vaccine distribution plan; we need targeted investment in our economy with an emphasis on helping our small businesses, the backbone of the Pennsylvanian economy and job market; in short, we need a plan that meets this moment. I believe President-elect Biden’s plan is exactly the sort of vision that meets this dire moment and will deliver the relief that Pennsylvania desperately needs to contain this virus, get people back to work and our children back to school, and rebuild an economy that provides opportunity for everyone.”

The American Rescue Plan will:

• Mount a national vaccination program, contain COVID-19, and safely reopen schools, including by setting up community vaccination sites nationwide, scaling up testing and tracing, eliminating supply shortage problems, investing in high-quality treatments, providing paid sick leave to contain spread of the virus, addressing health disparities, and making targeted investments to meet the president-elect’s goal of safely re-opening a majority of K-8 schools in the first 100 days.
• Deliver immediate relief to working families bearing the brunt of this crisis by sending $1,400 per-person checks to households across America, providing direct housing and nutrition assistance, expanding access to safe and reliable childcare and affordable healthcare, increasing the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance, and giving families with kids and childless workers an emergency boost this year.
• Support communities that are struggling in the wake of COVID-19 by providing support for the hardest-hit small businesses, and protecting the jobs of the first responders, transit workers, and other essential workers we depend on.
• Mobilize a public health jobs program to support COVID-19 response. The president-elect’s plan includes an historic investment in expanding the public health workforce. This proposal will fund 100,000 public health workers, nearly tripling the country’s community health roles. These individuals will be hired to work in their local communities to perform vital tasks like vaccine outreach and contact tracing in the near term, and to transition into community health roles to build our long-term public health capacity that will help improve quality of care and reduce hospitalization for low-income and underserved communities.

More information about the plan can be found here.

Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, an engineer, a serial entrepreneur, an educator, and a nonprofit leader. She represents Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, which encompasses Chester County and southern Berks County. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Small Business Committee.

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