![House Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima) answers questions about bills addressing vaccine mandates after House session on Wednesday. [Andy Chow / Statehouse News Bureau]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d5c3f5c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2208x1242+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2021%2F11%2F1059028570_1219872115.jpg)
Lawmakers are away on Thanksgiving break but there are some big issues waiting for them when they return, that includes creating a plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds.
House Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima) says the legislature will have a plan soon on how to spend the remaining $850 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars
Cupp says that includes a proposal to allocate $300 million for nursing homes, saying staff shortages have caused lots of issues around the state.
"People need somewhere to go. I mean, if they're not able to go to a nursing home or long-term care and you need somebody to help you in your home if you can't get anybody to help them in the home, what are they going to do?" said Cupp.
Cupp said it was too early to discuss if quality standards and base-pay for staff would be attached, but the bill’s sponsor has said she would be open to exempting nursing home staff from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which may not be allowed under federal rules.
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