Boise

BOARDMAN — Morrow County Commissioner Jim Doherty was one of several people from around the state who helped Sen. Jeff Merkley tout the benefits of the newest COVID-19 stimulus package on a video call with Oregon journalists on Friday, March 12.

President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on Thursday, March 11. The plan provides billions of dollars for COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, along with money for state and local governments, additional financial aid for businesses and relief for individuals that includes stimulus checks of up to $1,400, large child tax credits and increased amounts for unemployment checks.

Merkley called the plan “one of the most progressive and transformative pieces of legislation since the New Deal.” While the country isn’t out of the woods yet with the pandemic, he said, the American Rescue Plan will help put its effects in the past.

“This bill will put checks in Americans’ pockets, shots in their arms, kids back in our classrooms, and open signs in the windows of businesses — small businesses across Main Street and across America,” he said.

During the call, Doherty thanked Merkley for his work in including direct payments to local governments so that they could determine how best to help their residents.

With the previous stimulus package of CARES Act funds, Doherty said there was too much of a one-size-fits-all approach from state officials doling out funds. While some counties’ economies were devastated by the loss of tourism dollars for their restaurants and hotels, Morrow County residents are mostly essential workers in the agricultural and food processing industries, and had different needs, he said.

“When we got the funds in they said, ‘Use this on your restaurants and hospitalities,’ and you know, as broad and diverse in all the things we’ve got going on, you can’t buy a pair of socks in Morrow County,” he said. “So what might fit for another county really didn’t fit here. We needed to get our message out to our essential workers and get it out to our Hispanic population.”

One thing being president of the Association of Oregon Counties last year taught him, Doherty said, is “if you’ve seen one county, you’ve seen one county.”

Curry County Commissioner Court Boise, also on the call, echoed Doherty’s sentiments, calling the distribution plan in the American Recovery Plan a more equitable plan for rural Oregon. He said there have been some “hard feelings” in Oregon with how previous stimulus money was distributed (or in some cases, not distributed) to local governments.

Representatives from other parts of the state spoke to how the anticipated funds from the new law will help provide vaccine information in Spanish, allow family-owned entertainment venues to stay in business or help restaurants recover from past shutdowns.