Bennet Supports Coronavirus Community Relief Act to Provide Relief to Smaller Communities

Denver — Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced his support for the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, bipartisan legislation led by Colorado U.S. Congressman Joe Neguse (CO-2), which will provide a $250 billion local stabilization fund for cities and counties with populations under 500,000 during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

“Local governments in small communities across Colorado are facing massive budget shortfalls as they manage a perfect storm of responding to the coronavirus crisis and the resulting economic slowdown,” said Bennet. “It was and remains Congress’s intent for these smaller jurisdictions to receive their fair share of CARES Act funding. That’s why we need the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, to ensure we support communities of all sizes across Colorado so they can weather this crisis and continue to serve their constituents.”

“Cities and counties across Colorado are growing greater in need of economic relief every day, as they expend additional resources to protect their communities throughout this pandemic and suffer from lost revenue,” said Neguse. “Like their larger neighbors, these smaller counties, cities, and towns have faced enormous costs while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These costs include deploying timely public service announcements to keep Americans informed, rapidly activating emergency operations, readying employees for telework to keep services running, and more. We must ensure each of our communities receive direct stabilization funds to address the outbreak and recover when this public health emergency has passed. I am grateful for the support of Senator Michael Bennet and look forward to continuing to work together to provide needed relief to Colorado’s communities.” 

The Coronavirus Community Relief Act would ensure that all communities receive the direct relief they need to continue fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and allow additional flexibility on how state and local governments could use funds to mitigate the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

Under the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, funds disbursed to state and local governments with a population under 500,000 could use the funds for costs including but not limited to lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, and for increased costs reasonably believed to have been caused or as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The text of the bill is available HERE.