On Thursday, League President, Clinton Town Mayor Janice Kovach, and League staff joined more than 200 elected officials discussed the American Rescue Plan with U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker on a virtual call. The Senators gave an overview of the American Rescue Plan funding elements and spent more than an hour answering questions and listening to concerns and suggestions from local elected officials.
They warned that the legislation that comes to the Senate from the House of Representatives is likely to change, and that is fighting for direct payments to all types of local government using a modified Community Development Block grant formula.
There was a question regarding removing the deduction cap for state and local taxes and the Senators noted that they are fighting to remove it but it is costly because revenue previously allocated for the SALT deduction was reallocated to other purposes in the 2017 tax law.
Contact: Paul Penna, Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609 695-3481, x110.