PHOENIX – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that Arizona is receiving an additional $2.06 million in federal emergency management funding to help combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
“Today’s funding will strengthen Arizona’s coronavirus response to help us fight the outbreak and save lives,” said Sinema.
The additional $2.06 million announced today stems from a provision of the CARES Act to provide $100 million for Emergency Management Performance coronavirus supplemental grants for all fifty states.
Sinema—a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—recently led the Arizona delegation’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which allows Arizona to receive the needed response resources to reduce the risk of overwhelming the state’s hospitals and health care industry.
Sinema helped secure a number of priorities in the sweeping coronavirus-response CARES Act law, including a $150 billion relief fund for state, local, and Tribal governments, $55 billion more in investments in hospitals and health care workers, and an increase in unemployment benefits. Sinema recently wrote a column in the Arizona Republic stressing what else must be included in the next Congressional coronavirus-relief bill.
Sinema has also added a resources page to her website, www.sinema.senate.gov/corona, for Arizonans looking for the latest information on coronavirus.