This was the first major vote for the 591-page package, as Democrats continue to debate issues such as raising the minimum wage and how much aid to funnel to struggling state and local governments; the measure passed the panel on a largely party-line vote of 19-16.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended on Monday the administration's coronavirus stimulus package, which wouldn't unleash most of its teaching funding until after the current fiscal year.
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that just $6 billion of the $128 billion set aside for K-12 public schools would be administered to schools in 2021.
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When questioned about this, Psaki inferred the administration needed to help schools determine their use of the funds.
"Well, a big part of the challenge here for a number of schools is that they need -- in order to operate responsibly -- and given the threat of budget cuts, they need to obligate funds according to spending plans rather than exhausting all balances as soon as they're received," she said.
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"So the challenge here is how do they plan ahead? Right. They can hire if they need to hire additional teachers now for smaller class sizes or if they need to hire bus drivers or if they need to do improvements to their facilities."
She added: "They want to be able to know, understandably, just like any business or company that they will be able to employ teachers next year and the year ahead. So that's why this funding is so essential, is because they need to be able to plan ahead so that they can make the improvements. Now, do the hiring now."
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Psaki's comments came during a broader fight over the administration's position on reopening schools and the role that fixed work has played in keeping them closed.
The $128.5 billion in Biden's American Rescue Plan would essentially flow as grants to state and local education agencies to distribute.
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A White House official previously explained that the Biden administration will not allocate funding based on CBO predictions and said the president is bound to provide schools with the resources they need to safely reopen and fully serve their students, including more funding to cover COVID-19-related costs, budget deficits and financial certainty.
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The official added that Biden's offer is based on a careful evaluation of critical needs for the 2021 school year and into the next and the administration believes, based on this analysis, that the funds would be used much faster than CBO assumes.
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