American Rescue Plan Listening Tour: Casten Hears from Local Leaders in Education, Health Care, Emergency Response, Business and Social Services
Downers Grove, IL — U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) visited public school officials, first responders, social service providers, and small business leaders to talk about pandemic hardship and how the American Rescue Plan will help them and the communities they serve.
"From young mothers forced to choose between taking care of their children or paying the bills to teachers, students, and workers on the frontlines of this pandemic, Illinoisans have faced unprecedented adversity and their stories deserve to be heard," said Casten. "I listened to school superintendents describe how the American Rescue Plan would help their students return safely to classrooms, social service workers explain the challenge of ensuring all parents have the resources to access the new child tax credit, and local leaders say fully funded state and municipal governments will speed up vaccinations and keep our first responders on the job."
Casten's listening tour began with visits to public schools in the process of reopening, where he met with Superintendents Hank Thiele of Downers Grove and Brian Harris of Barrington to tour campuses and discuss how they've adapted to get students back into the classrooms safely, and address a myriad of student needs—from physical infrastructure renovations to additional nursing, contact tracing, counseling services, and tutoring.
Casten visited Teen Parent Connection, where he met with family support and health care staff to discuss the challenges facing young mothers—from lack of housing and increased domestic abuse to job loss and lack of childcare, forcing mothers to choose between taking care of their children and paying the bills.
While the American Rescue Plan's Child Tax Credit will benefit over 90% of American families and lift half our nation's children out of poverty, Executive Director Becky Beilfuss said the vast majority of mothers her organization serves haven't heard about the benefit or how to access it.
Casten met with first responders at the Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District and Superior Ambulance to discuss how first responders have risen to the many challenges from the pandemic—from local government budget shortfalls to higher costs due to PPE needs, time and costs associated for decontamination of ambulances, increased health care costs, employee testing, and a shortage of EMTs and Paramedics.
Until the American Rescue Plan was signed into law, ambulance providers were only reimbursed when patients are transported. But during the pandemic, medical controls instituted guidelines stating that non-critical patients needed to be treated at the scene and not transported to hospitals. The American Rescue Plan included provisions that allow CMS to have Medicare reimbursed for such treatment. With Medicare comprising EMS 50% of patient transports – this reimbursement is important to ensuring first responders have the support to continue keeping our communities safe.
Casten visited locally owned restaurant chain Pita Inn, where he spoke with General Manager, Eyad Tabahi about how PPP funding allowed him to keep 100 percent of his staff on payroll through the pandemic.
During Casten's most recent trip to the DuPage County Health Department's Community Vaccination Clinic, he received an update on local vaccine distribution efforts and how the American Rescue Plan has already helped ensure more Illinoisans are able to get the vaccine as quickly as possible.