Skip to main content

Justice, Fairness, Inclusion, and Performance.

EOM July Standing Panel Meeting

June 24, 2021

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.


REGISTER TODAY

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.

  • Does the ARP implementation effort encompass all of this spending, or is it being accounted for, and managed, separately?
  • How is the accountability framework created under the CARES Act also overseeing subsequent funding, including the ARP?
  • How might it be useful to the implementation of future proposed programs such as the infrastructure and climate initiatives that are currently being considered?



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. **