'Racial equity' a 'central tenet' in dispersing American Rescue Plan funds at state, local level: US Treasury

The U.S. Treasury made "advancing racial equity" a "central tenet" in its decision-making on the spending of $350 billion in state and local aid from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Two months after the plan became law, the Treasury released interim rules for how the funds should be spent, saying it was "targeting relief" to low-income areas to address the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic, which it argued was "in line" with Biden’s executive order on Advancing Racial Equity, which he signed upon entering office.