“The Senate voted March 6 to approve the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act after a lengthy amendment and debate process took more than 25 hours and pushed the vote into the weekend.”
“The Senate-approved legislation includes $1 billion of funding for the Technology Modernization Fund, and another $1 billion for a variety of tech priorities included in President Biden’s January proposal. Other tech investments included in the Senate bill feature money for an emergency connectivity fund, COVID-19 data tracking, and unemployment insurance infrastructure. In all, the bill approved by the Senate includes:
- $1 billion for TMF;
- $7.17 billion for an Emergency Connectivity Fund via the FCC’s E-Rate program;
- $2 billion for Unemployment Insurance infrastructure to be administered by the Labor Department;
- $650 million to CISA;
- $500 million to the Centers for Disease Control for COVID-19 data modernization and tracking;
- $200 million for the U.S. Digital Service;
- $150 million to General Services Administration for a Federal Citizen Services fund; and
- $140 million for the Indian Health Service for IT, telehealth, and electronic health records infrastructure…” Read the full article here.
Source: Senate Passes Relief Bill With $1 Billion TMF Bump, Extra $650M CISA Funding – By Lamar Johnson, March 7, 2021. MeriTalk.
