Topic: Implementing the American Rescue Plan
Thursday, July 8th, 1:00-2:45 pm EST
The $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March is gigantic - larger than the total of appropriations in a normal year. How is this complex piece of legislation being implemented? This panel session will hear from those involved in overseeing the implementation of the non-health components of this enormous effort.
Background:
Vice President Biden, in the Obama Administration, was tasked with overseeing the implementation of the $787 Billion Recovery Act in 2009. He created a small office reporting to him that coordinated across agencies and with states and localities. Is there a similar structure for implementing the ARP? Were there lessons from the 2009 effort that were used to frame the current implementation approach? The ARP has two main objectives – one to respond to the health crisis caused by the pandemic, the other to the economic crisis facing both individuals and businesses. The health component – mainly vaccinations -- is being overseen by Jeff Zients and the economic component is being overseen by Gene Sperling. This panel session focuses on the non-health elements of ARP. The 2009 Recovery Act involved about 25 agencies and about 250 appropriation accounts. There were add-ons that followed, such as education funding and the response to Hurricane Sandy. But that effort was dwarfed in scale and complexity by the various pandemic-related relief and recovery pieces of legislation. In the case of ARP, it was preceded by a number of major spending programs, most notably the CARES Act. ARP built on many of these preceding programs, for a total of about $5 Trillion in spending.
Hope you can join the discussion with representatives from federal agency leaders! Thanks!
** This session will be closed to media and is not for attribution. **