SPLC Action Fund Statement on Senate’s Passage of the American Rescue Plan

WASHINGTON — SPLC Action Fund President and CEO Margaret Huang released the statement below following the passage of the American Rescue Plan in the U.S. Senate.

“While it is many months overdue, the passage of the American Rescue Plan by the U.S. Senate is an important and necessary step to ensure that our communities get the vaccines, jobs and financial support they need. This relief is much needed for the Black, Brown, and Indigenous people and especially those in the Deep South who have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. 

“People across the country have been overwhelmingly supportive of providing real relief for families everywhere who are suffering. This package will help deliver that by extending unemployment insurance, providing necessary resources so that schools can safely reopen, helping childcare centers remain open and providing needed support to cut poverty. The House must now pass the American Rescue Plan and send it to President Biden so that we can get our country back on track. Our families and communities shouldn’t have to wait any longer.

“In the coming weeks and months, Congress should raise the minimum wage for the millions of working people across this country who continue to struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table.”