{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcsally.senate.gov/news/press-releases/mcsally-daines-urge-deadline-extension-for-tribal-covid-relief-fund", "McSally, Daines Urge Deadline Extension for Tribal COVID Relief Fund", "2020-10-26", "2020", "2020-10", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Martha McSally", "M001197", "www.mcsally.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "U.S. SENATE \r\nU.S. Senators Martha McSally (R-AZ) and Steve Daines (R-MT) are urging the\r\nAdministration to give Tribes more time to use the Coronavirus Relief Fund\r\n(CRF). Extending the deadline will allow Tribes more time to complete their\r\nmost significant pandemic response projects, including the construction of more health care\r\nfacilities and improvement of water infrastructure.  Starting these critical public health projects with CRF\r\nfunds is not allowed under current CRF guidance. The\r\nSenators sent a letter\r\nto Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark\r\nMeadows asking that the Treasury expand its definition of allowable CRF\r\nincurred expenses to include projects that will be substantially completed by\r\n2021. while tribes will be able to purchase masks and other\r\nshort-term life goods before the end of 2020, the requirement that performance\r\nor delivery must occur during the covered period' severely handicaps tribes'\r\nability to use these funds for some of their most pressing needs in responding\r\nto Coronavirus and largely defeats the purpose of the fund, the Senators\r\nwrote. Updating the guidance to\r\nallow tribes and other CRF eligible entities to complete essential public\r\nhealth infrastructure projects will honor the intent of the CARES Act and\r\naddress the ongoing needs of communities during the pandemic. McSally and Daines were the first Senators to publicly\r\ncall for a tribal government stabilization fund and other direct aid to Tribes\r\nin a March\r\n20 letter. They successfully\r\nfought for over $8 billion in tribal COVID-19 relief to be included in the\r\nCARES Act. As a direct\r\nresult of their efforts, tribal gaming enterprises were included in the\r\nPaycheck Protection Program. In September,\r\nMcSally successfully secured flexibility for state, local, and tribal\r\ngovernments to use Coronavirus Relief Fund allocations to prevent the layoffs\r\nof public health and safety workers during the pandemic, improve public health\r\ninfrastructure, and purchase personal protective equipment for schools. A copy of the\r\nletter can be found here and below. Dear\r\nSecretary Mnuchin and Mr. Meadows: We greatly\r\nappreciate your efforts to continue to work with Congress to provide additional\r\nrelief and assistance to all Americans during this unprecedented global\r\npandemic. We write about tribal governments and tribal communities in our\r\nstates that have been devastated by the pandemic and how updated Treasury\r\nguidance regarding the COVID Relief Fund deadline can help address continued\r\nneeds in Indian Country. It is\r\ndifficult to articulate the depth of impact the Coronavirus has had on tribal\r\ncommunities. Tribal communities live with the historical trauma of viral\r\ndisease spread in their communities, including the Smallpox, Spanish Flu,\r\nPolio, Tuberculosis, and the Hantavirus. These outbreaks are not simply a footnote\r\nin a history book for tribes, these viruses have killed large numbers of their\r\ngreat-grandfathers, -grandmothers, mothers, fathers and children and to this\r\nday, tribal communities in the southwest still face threats of the Black\r\nPlague. Now, COVID-19 is devastating these same communities; robbing tribes of\r\ntheir elders, and in some places, the last of their fluent native language\r\nspeakers. Recognizing\r\nthis, we acted. Working closely with the Trump Administration, we passed a\r\nhistoric measure of assistance to Tribal governments providing $8 billion to\r\nthe Tribal Coronavirus Relief Fund. These funds were provided to assist tribes\r\nacross the country in fighting and mitigating the impacts of this virus on\r\ntheir communities. However, without a clarification in the guidance from\r\nTreasury, many tribes will not be able to fully use these funds to fight and\r\nmitigate the impact of the virus on their communities. Thus, we are writing\r\ntoday to ask the Administration to once again work with us and provide an\r\nimportant clarification to the Tribal Coronavirus Relief Funds guidance that\r\nwill ensure that these desperately needed funds that we all fought so hard to\r\nsecure will be able to stay in Indian Country to assist Tribes. Specifically,\r\nthe CARES Act specifies that funds administered through the Coronavirus Relief\r\nFund (CRF) must be used for unbudgeted expenses that respond to the Coronavirus\r\ncrisis, and that the expenses be incurred by December 30, 2020. The Treasury\r\nGuidance provides that performance or delivery must occur during the covered\r\nperiod (March 2020-December 2020) even if payment does not occur in 2020.\r\nUnfortunately, Tribes have had limited time/access to use these funds and\r\nthrough no one's fault, there was a delay in distributing the funds and\r\nlitigation regarding eligibility to receive funds, which resulted in tribes\r\nhaving six months or fewer to expend funds. Thus, while tribes will be able to\r\npurchase masks and other short-term life goods before the end of 2020, the\r\nrequirement that performance or delivery must occur during the covered period\r\nseverely handicaps tribes' ability to use these funds for some of their most\r\npressing needs in responding to Coronavirus and largely defeats the purpose of\r\nthe fund. For\r\nexample, for tribes in our States who have limited space or a limited number of\r\nhealth care facilities, and desire to expand the size or increase the number of\r\nsuch facilities to respond to the Coronavirus, such projects cannot reasonably\r\nbe completed in 2020 and would likely be completed in 2021. Pursuant to the\r\nguidance provided only amounts which relate to construction completed in 2020\r\nwould qualify as incurred and as a valid use of funds  despite such projects\r\nbeing the most pressing and necessary uses of such funds in responding to the\r\npandemic. Also, Treasury has indicated that CRF payments may be used for\r\nupgrading public health infrastructure, such as providing individuals and\r\nfamilies access to running water to help reduce the further spread of the\r\nvirus, but still requires construction and related that expenses must be\r\nincurred by December 30, 2020. Under the current definition of incurred costs,\r\nsuch improvements are nearly impossible to construct within this timeframe. Thus, we\r\nare asking that Treasury issue clarifying guidance related to the definition of\r\nincurred costs to improve the effectiveness of the COVID Relief Fund.\r\nSpecifically, we request the following language be included in updated Treasury\r\nCRF guidance: Expenditures\r\nwill be considered eligible as incurred expenses if a contract for services\r\nor for the design, planning, engineering or construction of a project related\r\nto the COVID-19 public health emergency is executed by December 31, 2020, and\r\nthe services and/or the construction of the project will be substantially\r\ncompleted by no later than December 31, 2021. Updating\r\nthe guidance to allow tribes and other CRF eligible entities to complete\r\nessential public health infrastructure projects will honor the intent of the\r\nCARES Act and address the ongoing needs of communities during the pandemic. We\r\nappreciate your consideration of this important matter and look forward to\r\nworking with you to ensure Congress and the Administration continue to\r\naddresses the pandemic needs of all Americans, including Native Americans. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcsally.senate.gov/news/press-releases/mcsally-daines-urge-deadline-extension-for-tribal-covid-relief-fund"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.626318320631981, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}