Time is running out for local governments to use billions of dollars of federal pandemic relief funds.

President Joe Biden is trying to spotlight how federal dollars are both helping cities and police departments manage crime, and providing job opportunities for youth in communities affected by that violence.

Vice President Kamala Harris has set the record for the most Senate tiebreaker votes, topping a nearly 200-year-old mark by casting her 32nd to help confirm a new federal judge in Washington, D.

Users of Venmo, Cash App and other payment apps will get a bit of a tax reprieve this year.

Federal officials estimate that local governments now have spending plans in place for most of the money they received under a prominent pandemic relief law.

The city has spent most of the COVID-19 relief money but now there is nearly $65 million left, and as the saying goes: it’s time to use it or lose it.

President Joe Biden's administration is starting a push to get Congress to fund measures to help prosecute fraud in government coronavirus pandemic relief programs.

President Joe Biden's administration is providing nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan.

President Joe Biden and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are announcing $1 billion in federal grants for manufacturing, clean energy, farming, biotech and more.

Hundreds of tourism projects nationwide are collectively getting about $2.4 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding.

President Joe Biden's administration has announced new steps to ease the national shortage of baby formula, including allowing more imports from overseas.

The giant American Rescue Plan that provides $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief turns one year old on Friday.

It's been one year since President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told a gathering of America’s mayors the Biden administration’s coronavirus relief bill is “like a vaccine” preventing catastrophic economic damage.

It’s one of the most far-reaching of all the federal aid programs launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many states and cities across the U.S. are getting off to a slow start in spending money from this year's coronavirus relief package championed by President Joe Biden and Democrats.

Amid a national debate over the use of pandemic relief funds, Alabama lawmakers swiftly approved a plan to tap $400 million to help build two super-size prisons.

For months, there have been delays in picking up yard waste in Duval County neighborhoods.

Georgia has received approval for its plans to use $1.4 billion in federal coronavirus relief money, most directly allocated to Georgia’s 180-plus school districts.

The U.S. Department of Education approved Georgia’s plans to use $1.4 billion in federal coronavirus relief money.

Dozens of cities and counties and the state of California are experimenting with giving some low-income residents a guaranteed income of $500 to $1,000 each month to do with as they please, and tracking what happens.

Compensating city employees was among the items Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry highlighted Tuesday in his $1.4 billion budget proposal.

Florida is looking to secure an additional $1.1 billion from the federal government to bolster Medicaid funding over the next two years.

Starting Thursday, an estimated 40,000 Florida families will begin receiving $250 to $300 payments as part of the American Rescue Plan’s Child Tax Credit program.

About 36 million families will receive a letter in the mail, letting them know that the expanded child tax credit will begin to hit bank accounts starting July 15.

Every Republican in Congress voted against the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law three months ago.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff on Wednesday spent the day with the leaders of Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.

The Treasury Department is creating a new office to supervise the disbursement of the billions of dollars in relief money passed by Congress to combat the coronavirus-related recession.

Millions of Americans who didn’t qualify for help to pay for health insurance before the pandemic now do because of the recently signed coronavirus relief plan.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging the adoption of a minimum global corporate income tax.

Yellen told members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council that she wants the panel to examine what needs to be done to better protect the financial system from further turmoil. “Almost exactly one year ago, the pandemic’s outbreak caused significant stress in the economy and in the financial system,” Yellen told the panel during its public session. AdYellen said the examination of last year’s financial market turmoil would include a review of potential reforms for money market mutual funds and the operation of hedge funds. Yellen said the council’s review would also address ways to make the Treasury securities market more resilient to future disruptions. “Our financial system must be prepared for the market and credit risks of these climate-related events.”

Six community health centers in North Florida, including two in Jacksonville, will receive a total of more than $21.1 million in American Rescue Plan funds to expand their COVID-19 vaccination and treatment operations, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson announced Wednesday. The funds are part of the American Rescue Plan’s $6 billion investment to expand vaccine access in underserved communities. These are the health centers receiving funds in Florida’s 5th Congressional District, which Lawson represents:Agape Community Health Center (Jacksonville): $2,456,125I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless, Inc. (Jacksonville): $2,904,375Bond Community Health Center (Tallahassee): $2,672,000Florida Department of Health (Tallahassee): $3,674,500Neighborhood Medical Center (Tallahassee): $4,355,000North Florida Medical Center (Tallahassee): $5,087,500The funding will help to expand the health centers’ operational capacity, including adding mobile units. “The pandemic has hit Floridians hard, and this crucial funding to our local health centers will help families across Florida’s fifth district,” Lawson said in a news release.

That's likely to be the case for Vice President Kamala Harris, who this week was named the new point person on immigration. This is definitely not a ceremonial task,” said Nina Rees, a former deputy assistant for domestic policy to Vice President Dick Cheney. Harris' team has clarified that the vice president does not own all of immigration policy. Kamarck's argument bucks the traditional wisdom, which says if a vice president does well on thorny issues, more credit goes to the president and, if not, it gives the president some political cover. The matter of who gets praise, or blame, is even trickier when it's clear the vice president has White House aspirations.

Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell say more needs to be done to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic and promote a full economic recovery. AdResponding to a question from Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Yellen said the persistence of low interest rates have changed her views on federal debt. Lower rates have made it easier for the federal government to cover the interest costs on the debt, she said. Under questioning from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Yellen said Congress should allot more money to the IRS so the tax collection agency could reduce tax evasion. Ad“The tax gap is huge,” Yellen said, “and I think we would have a fairer tax system and collect more tax revenue without the need to raise (tax) rates if we resourced the IRS properly.”

Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell say more needs to be done to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic and promote a full economic recovery. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Tuesday that more must be done to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Powell also reiterated that he does not expect programs aimed at reviving the economy will trigger unwanted inflation. Yellen said the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan held out the prospect of returning the country to full employment next year. AdYellen on Tuesday pledged a rapid rollout from the Treasury of the new relief plan.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said the details of the “loan” were still being worked out, but 2.5 million doses would go to Mexico and 1.5 million would be sent to Canada. The World Health Organization on Thursday issued a report that fewer than 7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Africa thus far. By the time Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the U.S. had already administered 20 million shots at a rate of about 1 million per day, bringing complaints at the time that Biden’s goal was not ambitious enough. He quickly revised it upward to 150 million doses in his first 100 days. Vaccination trend lines pointed to Biden breaking the 100 million mark on Thursday, with the numbers likely to be confirmed by the CDC as soon as Friday.

This year’s tax season was scheduled to end April 15, but multiple news outlets reported Wednesday that the IRS is planning to push the deadline date to file an extra month. According to CNBC and other national outlets, the agency is considering moving the filing deadline to either May 15 or possibly May 17 since the 15th is a Saturday. The IRS typically delays filing deadlines that fall on a weekend or holiday to the next business day. There have been calls to extend the deadline after the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Processing of the payments began last Friday, the day after Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which authorized direct payments of up to $1,400 to qualifying individuals.

The Treasury Department says it has sent out 90 million economic impact payments totaling $242 billion since President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department says it has sent out 90 million economic impact payments totaling $242 billion since President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan last week. Processing of the payments began last Friday, the day after Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which authorized direct payments of up to $1,400 to qualifying individuals. Included were people who don't typically file a return but who used a non-filers tool at IRS.gov last year to be included in two earlier rounds of COVID-19 relief payments. No action is needed by most taxpayers to receive the payments, which will be automatic and similar to how people received their first and second round of economic impact payments in 2020.

Salazar, a small business owner for 30 years, told Harris that help from the Small Business Administration has "kept me afloat but more is needed.”In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Smith Flooring had 23 employees during peak times but currently is employing 12 workers. In Washington, the Senate confirmed Isabel Guzman, Biden’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration on Tuesday. It’s a sharp turn from the start of the Biden administration, when vaccination goals were relatively modest and Americans were warned the country might not return to normal until Christmas. AdThe Biden administration estimates that 400,000 small businesses have closed because of the pandemic and millions more are barely surviving. It recently qualified for a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan during a two-week window in which the Biden administration focused the program exclusively on helping businesses with 20 or fewer employees.

President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 relief package in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, March 15, 2021, in Washington. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses have launched an ambitious tour this week to promote the $1.9 trillion plan as a way to battle the pandemic and boost the economy. “We want to avoid a situation where people are unaware of what they’re entitled to,” Harris said at the culinary academy. “Shots in arms and money in pockets,” Biden said at the White House. And he mocked Biden's talk of Americans working toward merely being able to gather in small groups by July 4th as “bizarre.”The Biden plan cleared Congress without any backing from Republicans, despite polling that found broad public support.

Perhaps most significantly, it greatly expands a child tax credit and turns it into steady income for poor families. All told, experts say, the package will reduce child poverty by nearly half. As ambitious and expensive as it is, the American Rescue Plan, which Biden signed into law Thursday, stands to go only so far in reducing income and wealth inequality. Still, inequality runs so deep in the United States that even the nearly $2 trillion in the Biden package alone won't uproot it. “I would give it high marks for reducing income inequality, recognizing that it’s not meant to be a long-term structural change,” she said.

At the same time, more than 4 million residents with certain disabilities or health concerns become eligible for a vaccine. Set in motion over one year, that's warp-speed spending in a capital known for gridlock, ugly argument and now an episode of violent insurrection. At one turn after another, that may be the rhetorical question of these COVID-19 times. The U.S. reached a total of 3,000 COVID-19 deaths even before March 2020 was out. By December, the country was experiencing the toll of 9/11 day after day after day.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American Rescue Plan, a coronavirus relief package, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, March 12, 2021, in Washington. Biden signed the bill into law Thursday and then extolled it in a prime-time address to the nation that night. He predicted that Biden would be equally relentless in selling the relief package this time. “This is so important that it is literally something you say during the last rally of your reelection campaign.”Biden is expected to appoint someone to oversee implementation of the COVID-19 relief plan. AdBiden’s White House has embraced the strategy of under-promising and then over-delivering, allowing it to frequently beat target dates and goals on, for instance, vaccine distribution.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American Rescue Plan, a coronavirus relief package, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, March 12, 2021, in Washington. Biden signed the bill into law Thursday and then extolled it in a prime-time address to the nation that night. He predicted that Biden would be equally relentless in selling the relief package this time. “This is so important that it is literally something you say during the last rally of your reelection campaign.”Biden is expected to appoint someone to oversee implementation of the COVID-19 relief plan. AdBiden’s White House has embraced the strategy of under-promising and then over-delivering, allowing it to frequently beat target dates and goals on, for instance, vaccine distribution.

The additional funding includes:— $620 million for AmeriCorps’ state and national programs, which provide grants to local nonprofits to hire AmeriCorps members for designated projects. — $80 million boost for AmeriCorps Vista, which works with local nonprofits and governments on anti-poverty programs. The new stimulus measure expands that eligibility to nonprofits that operate at multiple locations as long as no more than 500 employees work at any single location, according to the National Council of Nonprofits. AdHELP FOR NONPROFITS THAT SELF-INSURE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITSThe measure extends and expands help for nonprofits that self-insure unemployment benefits. Under previous stimulus legislation, the federal government covered half the costs of benefits provided to their laid-off employees.

The new American Rescue Plan, just signed into law, gets the ball rolling to help out on many people’s financial well-being. Payments will soon be coming by direct deposit, checks, or a debit card to people eligible for the payment. The new law also has some language about health insurance, temporarily increasing subsidies for newly laid-off people and many people buying their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). AdIf you spot one of these scams, please tell the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Meanwhile, check out this video for tips on avoiding economic impact payment scams.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)BALTIMORE – To pay out his coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden must spend an average of $3.7 billion every day for the rest of this year. Schools and state and local governments also might spread out spending to well after most of the country is vaccinated. “To do that, we’re going to need your input and advice.”The Biden package also introduces about $140 billion in temporary tax credits. First is the reduction in child poverty promoted by the Biden team through the tax credits and other aid. But the spending in the Biden package also reflects how much has changed after the nation went into lockdown a year ago.

TALLAHASSEE – Now that President Joe Biden has signed the American Rescue Plan, Florida lawmakers must decide how to spend $10 billion in federal COVID relief funds. “A lot of our ongoing budget challenges are non-recurring,” said Senate Budget Chair Kelli Stargel. These are recurring expenses and that influx of money is non-recurring funds. The governor has suggested lawmakers set the state budget at $96.6 billion, more than $4 billion higher than the current budget. Even with the new federal funds, lawmakers have remained skeptical of such a large increase.

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package (all times local):8:30 p.m.President Joe Biden is urging Americans to “stick with the rules" as he wraps up his address to the nation on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of coronavirus pandemic. __8:05 p.m.President Joe Biden is delivering a somber but optimistic message on the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden says, “We all lost something, a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.”Ad__6:40 p.m.President Joe Biden is planning to announce during his prime-time address Thursday night that he’ll deploy 4,000 additional U.S. troops to support coronavirus vaccination efforts. The officials say the president will also say that there is a good chance Americans will be able to safely gather in small groups by July 4.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)BALTIMORE – To pay out his coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden must spend an average of $3.7 billion every day for the rest of this year. Schools and state and local governments also might spread out spending to well after most of the country is vaccinated. “To do that, we’re going to need your input and advice.”The Biden package also introduces about $140 billion in temporary tax credits. First is the reduction in child poverty promoted by the Biden team through the tax credits and other aid. But the spending in the Biden package also reflects how much has changed after the nation went into lockdown a year ago.

WASHINGTON – The White House said Thursday the $1,400 direct payments for most Americans funded by the American Rescue Plan will start showing up in bank accounts as early as this weekend. Press secretary Jen Psaki said the government will make the first direct deposits this weekend. President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the Oval Office on Thursday. Besides the $1,400 direct payments to individuals, the plan includes money to help distribute coronavirus vaccines, provide relief to homeowners and renters, help reopen schools, provide aid to state and local governments, and an expansion of the child tax credit, among other features. AdRELATED | Biden signs $1.9T relief bill before speech to nation

Japan has confirmed 345 cases of the more contagious new variants, mostly the kind first found in Britain, the health ministry said. ___WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has removed remaining coronavirus restrictions on the city of Auckland after containing a small outbreak. Ad___WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is planning to announce during his prime-time address Thursday night that he’ll deploy 4,000 additional U.S. troops to support coronavirus vaccination efforts. Thursday’s announcement from the Department of Corrections comes a year after suspending visits at prisons because of the coronavirus pandemic. John Bel Edwards has loosened his COVID-19 restrictions.

President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. “While it was different for everyone, we all lost something," Biden said of the sacrifices of the yearlong-and-counting pandemic. In his Thursday night address, Biden said that as vaccine supplies continue to increase, he will direct states and territories to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. Biden had originally planned to sign the bill on Friday, but it arrived at the White House more quickly than anticipated. Trump, it was later revealed, acknowledged that he had been deliberately “playing down” the threat of the virus.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday the country was still in a “deep hole” with millions of lost jobs but that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan could generate enough growth to restore full employment by next year. Summers also contended that Biden’s plan would make less money available for other initiatives such as improving the nation’s infrastructure. The proposal will be part of the COVID-19 relief bill they are writing that is expected to largely follow Biden’s plan. Under the House Democrats’ plan, those amounts would begin to phase out for individual parents earning $75,000 yearly and couples making $150,000. She said if Biden’s relief package is approved, the country could get back to full employment by next year.

President Joe Biden will be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday as he addresses the state of the U.S. economy and the need for what the administration is calling the American Rescue Plan.

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)Mexico posted a record spike in coronavirus cases on Friday, with 21,366 newly confirmed infections, about double the daily rate of increase just a week ago. The National Health Commission said 90 of those confirmed cases were in Hebei province, adjacent to Beijing, where the country’s biggest recent outbreak occurred. State health officials announced this week that vaccine eligibility would be expanded to educators and seniors beginning Jan. 23. But federal officials have since said the stockpile was exhausted when those promises were made and governors can’t expect any windfall shipments. President Donald Trump had invoked the Defense Production Act to address various aspects of the COVID-19 public health crisis.

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)BEIJING — China says it is now treating more than 1,000 people for COVID-19 as numbers of cases continue to surge in the country’s north. ___AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has distributed more than 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. State health officials say Texas had more than 14,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and its death toll has passed 30,000. ___COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina will now allow medical students, retired nurses and other qualified professionals to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. ___MADRID — Spain reported 35,878 confirmed coronavirus cases and 201 new deaths from the coronavirus.