Gallego Urges Ducey to Use American Rescue Plan Funds for Gas Price Relief
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey urging the governor to direct a portion the second tranche of Arizona’s Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSFRF) from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) to provide relief from rising gas prices to Arizona families. The second tranche of funding, over $2 billion, is expected to become available in the coming weeks.
The letter read in part: “As you are aware, supply chain challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased oil prices over the past year, which has hurt Arizonans at the gas pump. Recently, gas price increases have been further exacerbated by Vladimir Putin’s illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and oil company CEOs’ choice to use this opportunity to price gouge, passing higher costs on to consumers while they sit on unused federal land leases and buy back stocks after reaping billions in profit last year.”
With gas prices rising across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, all Arizonans, especially low- to moderate-income earners, have felt the impact of these rising prices.
“Arizonans need help at the gas pump now, and at the ready is a significant sum of money meant to be used for these exact types of situations. While oil and gas executives record historic profits, working Arizonans are bearing the brunt of their corporate greed,” said Rep. Gallego (AZ-07). “American Rescue Plan funds should go directly to the people that need it most: the Arizonans that get up each day to drive their children to school or to go to and from work. The decision is in Gov. Ducey’s hands on how to spend the more than $2 billion in upcoming COVID-19 relief funding, and I hope he does right by Arizonans to get these dollars to hardworking families.”
In passing the ARPA, Democrats in Congress and President Biden provided states funding to address the public health and economic impact of the pandemic. Using these funds to ease the burden at the gas pump through options such as gas rebates is a significant step Gov. Ducey can take to assist Arizonans who are still recovering economically from the pandemic.
The letter concludes: “I strongly urge you to use part of these funds to ease Arizonans’ economic burden at the gas pump, including by exploring options like gas rebates for those that have still not fully recovered economically from the pandemic. Using CSFR funds to provide economic relief to Arizonans at the pump will help ensure a robust and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in line with the intent of the ARPA.”
Full text of the letter can be found here.