One Year Later, the American Rescue Plan Worked—Now Let’s Make the Economy Work for Everyone

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a roundtable with mayors from across Washington state ahead of the one year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan being signed into law on March 11, 2021.

Senator Murray outlined the ways that the American Rescue Plan has supported working people in Washington state with direct cash assistance, lowered health care costs, safely reopened schools, bolstered the state’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and more. Senator Murray also discussed the ways she is working to build on the success and progress of the American Rescue Plan, with a focus on lowering costs for people in Washington state—among other initiatives, Senator Murray is leading proposals to lower prescription drug costs and make child care more affordable and accessible.

Senator Murray was joined by Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Tieton Mayor Dewane Ashbrooks, Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson, and Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson.

The U.S. economy has added approximately 6.7 million more jobs since this time last year. A recent nonpartisan analysis found that the American Rescue Plan resulted in 4 million more jobs and nearly doubled GDP growth – and that without it, the United States would have come close to a double-digit recession in spring 2021. The U.S. reached 3.8% unemployment by February 2022; before the American Rescue Plan passed, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did not project an unemployment rate that low at any time this decade. Moreover, the results of the American Rescue Plan have also been historically equitable, with major progress against child poverty, food insecurity, and unemployment for low-income communities and communities of color.