President Biden Signs American Rescue Plan
Following final congressional approval, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. Although the Senate made some changes to the initial House-approved version, the provisions relevant to public institutions of higher education remained the same.
The new law sends $39.6 billion to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which was initially created one year ago by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The FSU HEERF allocation is expected to be roughly $80 million, with half distributed to students and the remainder utilized for institutional needs related to the pandemic. Additionally, $350 billion was included to help state and local governments stabilize their budgets following pandemic-related losses and expenses. Notably absent from the package was $26 billion in research relief, requested by the advocacy community to assist projects that were sidelined by pandemic. Research relief resources will remain a topic of discussion with the Hill as an infrastructure package is assembled and the FY22 appropriations process moves forward.