Harrisburg, Pa. – May 12, 2021 Today, Pennsylvania Senate Democrats unveiled the “New Deal for PA” – a $6.15 billion investment of federal funds coming to the Commonwealth pursuant to the American Rescue Plan. 

The New Deal for PA focuses on Jobs, Opportunity, and Equity with the following breakdown:

People — $2.470 billion
21st Century Child Care
Business Assistance
Education/Community Supports
Job Training/Workforce Development
Utility Assistance

Projects — $2.493 billion
Economic Development
Infrastructure

Public Health — $1.185 billion
Public Health Equity/Vaccine Confidence
Rewarding Frontline Worker Service

“These funds give us a unique opportunity to not only plug the holes created by the past year, but to also set us on a trajectory that will prevent such devastation from happening again – particularly as it relates to the disproportionate impact some communities faced,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “We have to move beyond calls to simply ‘reopen’ and focus instead on rebuilding and recovering. Our businesses, workers and families need programs and support systems to get to a new normal.”

By making targeted investments in people, projects, and public health, we can use this once-in-a-lifetime infusion of federal funds into PA to make positive, long-lasting improvements that will lay the foundation to create transformative change across the Commonwealth. 

“This plan which creates jobs and opportunity, and prioritizes equity, is the result of a long, difficult year of listening and learning,” Senate Democratic Appropriations Chair Hughes said. “Thousands of Pennsylvanians have taken time during the pandemic to tell us their stories, their challenges and their tragedies. We now have a historic opportunity to apply the lessons learned not just from the virus, but also from the decades of regressive public policy that left so many so vulnerable to it.  In short, this plan puts PA’s people first.”

The New Deal for PA uses a data-driven approach to respond to what we learned during the pandemic. 

The caucus looked at the current situation to determine where financial assistance is still necessary to help individuals, families, and small business recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic. Then, the caucus looked ahead and assessed how to best invest ARP funds to ensure that we come out of the pandemic better than we went in and build resiliency across the commonwealth in preparation for the next crisis.

Finally, the caucus compared its proposal with the U.S. Treasury guidance released on May 10, 2021, to ensure we are on solid footing in using the funds as we propose. 

Federal guidance on allowable uses of the funds coming to Pennsylvania from the American Rescue Plan’s (“ARP”) State Fiscal Relief Fund was released on May 10, 2021. Pennsylvania will receive approximately $7.3 billion in flexible funding from the State Fiscal Relief Fund.  Senate Democrats believe it is time to begin the conversation on investing these funds so we can allocate the monies with the FY 2021-2022 budget

The Senate Democrats’ proposal distributes $6.05 billion from the following sources:

State Fiscal Relief Fund — $4,797,500,000
Capital Projects Fund — $280,000,000
ESSER Fund — $505,000,000
Emergency Assistance for Nonpublic Schools — $150,000,000
Pandemic Response Fund — $25,000,000
Other Funds — $55,000,000
Local Matching Funds — $335,000,000

Counties and municipalities will receive approximately $6.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan’s Local Fiscal Relief Fund and school districts will receive approximately $4.5 billion from the ESSER Fund.  If these local government units take advantage of these programs, state matching funds will average approximately $4 for every $1 of local funding. 

The Senate Democratic Caucus plan targets investments to craft a just recovery so Pennsylvania can Build Back Better.

More information on the plan can be found at PASenate.com/NewDeal

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