Groups ask Ivey to spend $4 billion in pandemic aid on those most in need
A group of 42 churches and organizations across Alabama in a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey asked that the $4 billion in federal pandemic relief to the state and local governments be used to benefit critical needs in healthcare, housing, education and public transportation.
In the letter, those groups ask Ivey to direct the federal aid made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act to expand Medicaid, increase broadband internet access in underserved areas and increase funding for child care, early childhood education and mental health care.
“New funding at this scale can be transformative for our state, but only if we take a transformative approach to how we spend it,” the letter reads. “For too long, Alabama’s leaders … have settled for poor outcomes in health, education, community development and other measures of shared prosperity, because they thought we couldn’t tackle such deep problems. The pandemic is challenging us to reclaim – and redefine – the common good. ARPA funding gives us a rare opportunity to meet the challenge, if we’re willing.”
Expanding Medicaid would give health coverage to more than 340,000 Alabamians with low incomes, the authors wrote in the letter, also encouraging Ivey and state leaders to expand in-home and community-based services for the elderly and disabled.
Read more: https://www.alreporter.com/2021/07/09/groups-ask-ivey-to-spend-4-billion-in-pandemic-aid-on-those-most-in-need/
(Alabama Political Reporter)