Bellingham and Whatcom in line for these federal funds from latest COVID relief bill
A $1.9 trillion federal pandemic-relief package could contain more than $60 million for Bellingham and Whatcom County, officials said.
Neither Bellingham nor Whatcom County officials had full details of aid coming this way from the economic stimulus measure that President Biden signed March 11, but early estimates showed Bellingham was in line for about $21 million and Whatcom County could receive as much as $44.5 million.
“This federal aid will be very helpful both in terms of supporting government operations and bolstering economic recovery,” Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “We are awaiting specific guidance from the Treasury, but we know the general terms and are already thinking about the best possible uses for these funds.”
Sidhu said the county hopes to continue a collaboration with its cities and other partners such as the Port of Bellingham, as it did with CARES Act money last spring.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to do some good work together,” Sidhu said.
Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood said that the aid package — called the American Rescue Plan — is “welcome relief from the ongoing economic and public health impacts” of the new coronavirus pandemic.
“I want us to be very thoughtful about how we prioritize spending these dollars,” Fleetwood told The Herald in an email.
“I look forward to full engagement and collaboration with the City Council and input from the community as we assess the most responsible uses of this funding,” Fleetwood said.
A spokesman for Sidhu told The Herald that the county expects to see even more aid in different parts of the stimulus bill because its earmark of $65.1 billion to counties is only 4% of the entire measure.
“So, the direct aid to Whatcom County is only a small fraction of what’s coming. We are going to see a lot of benefits from all the other spending related to the American Rescue Plan,” spokesman Jed Holmes said in an email.
This most recent relief package outlines four categories of eligible spending, Holmes said:
▪ Respond to or mitigate the public health emergency with respect to the COVID-19 emergency or its negative economic impacts.
▪ Cover costs incurred as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.
▪ Replace revenue that was lost, delayed or decreased as determined based on projections of the government as of Jan. 27, 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.
▪ Address negative economic effects of the COVID-19 disease.
Biden’s $1.9 trillion measure is the third pandemic relief bill originating from Congress — the others are the $2 trillion CARES Act signed March 27 and the $900 billion Consolidated Appropriations Act signed Dec. 27.
All three featured direct payments to Americans and additional aid in the form of unemployment benefits and rent relief for those who lost their jobs because business closures and other fallout from the pandemic.
