COLUMBIA, SC – This week, Congressman James E. Clyburn marked 500 days since President Biden signed Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) into law on March 11, 2021. This lifesaving legislation created millions of jobs, kickstarted a successful national vaccination program, helped schools reopen, and funded critical projects in South Carolina.
“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, South Carolina was able to keep essential workers on the job, working families were able to put food on the table, parents were able to go to work, and children were able to return to school,” said Congressman Clyburn. “I look forward to working with the Biden-Harris Administration and my colleagues in Congress to address the new challenges facing American families by building on the momentum of ARP to create a stronger, more equitable America.”
In South Carolina alone, the American Rescue Plan provided:
- $2.1 billion for K-12 schools and $605.1 million for colleges and universities to help them reopen more safely.
- Economic impact payments to 2,751,995 people, totaling $6.6 billion to working families.
- Child tax credit tax cuts to the families of 1,025,000 children in South Carolina, lifting 68,000 children out of poverty. 315,000 low-income South Carolinians without children also benefited from an expanded earned income tax credit.
- Access for approximately 60,000 people to enroll in health insurance.
- Health insurance costs cut by $720, on average, for people who get their healthcare through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.
- $4.3 billion to state and local governments to keep essential services up and running.
- $216.5 million in aid to help 1,043 small restaurants keep their doors open.
- $35.1 million to help low-income families afford their energy and heating bills.
Overall, the American Rescue Plan:
- Nearly doubled GDP growth and led to the creation of 4 million additional jobs in 2021.
- Helped make 2021 the biggest year of job creation in U.S. history.
- Enabled the U.S. to be the first major advanced economy in the world to come back above pre-pandemic levels of GDP.
- Made workers and families more financially resilient to future challenges — thanks to the ARP, families up and down the income scale generally still have more money than they did before the pandemic.
- Kept 3.7 million American children out of poverty.
- Helped 5.8 million Americans newly enroll in free or affordable health plans.
- Saved 14.5 million Americans who get their insurance through ACA marketplace plans $67 a month on premiums, totaling more than $800 per person in savings in 2021.
- Led to a record small business boom in 2021, with more Americans starting new businesses than ever before and the highest rate of small business job creation ever recorded in a single year.
- Prevented a devastating wave of home foreclosures like we saw during the Great Recession.
- Is projected to save more than one million hard-earned worker pensions.
- Funded widespread, efficient vaccination efforts and helped schools, childcare facilities, and workplaces reopen safely.
- Led to the most equitable economic recovery in recent memory.
A recent report prepared by the House Budget Committee on the transformational impacts of the American Rescue Plan is available HERE.
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