Read a PDF of our statement here.

Today, the United States House of Representatives voted to pass a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package, which now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature. Some of the key items included in this legislation are as follows:

  • $1,400 direct stimulus payments.
  • Extends the 15% increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through Sept. 30, 2021.
  • Extends the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program, which provides families of children who normally receive school meals in-person with the value of those missed school breakfasts and lunches.
  • Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
  • $7.5 billion in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for vaccine distribution to help reach every community.
  • $7.6 billion for community health centers to help reverse health disparities.
  • $125 billion for public K-12 schools to safely reopen for in-person learning, address learning loss, and support students as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
  • $4.5 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and $500 million for low-income water assistance.
  • $21.55 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance funds provided to states, localities, and territories to help families pay rent and utilities and stay in their homes.
  • $100 million to support those residing in United States Department of Agriculture-subsidized rural properties who are struggling to pay rent.
  • $9.961 billion to states, territories, tribes, and tribally-designated housing entities to provide direct assistance to homeowners with mortgage and utility assistance.

Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement regarding this long-awaited relief bill:

“We commend Congress for passing a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package that will provide desperately needed and long overdue support to millions of Americans who have been struggling for nearly a year. The pandemic’s compounding and devastating health, economic, educational, and social consequences have taken an extreme toll on countless individuals — especially in Black communities and other communities of color, which continue to be disproportionately impacted by pandemic-related hardships and inequitable vaccine distribution.

“We are reassured that this legislation includes multi-faceted relief for those who have been most severely impacted by this catastrophe. Low- and moderate-income individuals, as well as those who are uninsured or underinsured, will now have more robust supports in place to help them recover from the pandemic’s devastating implications – and to ensure that their socioeconomic welfare is not irreparably damaged by this crisis.

“With this bill, the Biden administration realizes its promise to provide Americans with the help they need to weather the immense hardships perpetuated by this pandemic. For people of color — who have lost their lives and jobs at staggering rates and whose welfare and security is further chipped away every day that this crisis continues – this promise has utmost importance. We look forward to President Biden signing this critical legislation and facilitating its swift, equitable, and successful implementation.”

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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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