ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Pres. Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan on Thursday, and officials said the Capital Region is expected to get around $500 million.

While many towns, cities and counties know how much money they are likely to receive, they don’t know, yet, how exactly they can spend it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the package is a lifeline to state and local governments, essential workers, small businesses and more.

Stephen Acquario is the executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. He said the influx of money is what the Capital Region needs to build itself back up.

“We need to use this fund to invest into public health infrastructure, so we have to look at that category,” he said. “We have to look at housing, rental assistance, mortgage payments that were not able to be paid because of unemployment. Those types of programs are eligible. We have programs for childcare and homelessness funds that we can use to engage into our community.”

Counties and municipalities aren’t the only ones looking forward to the funding. According to the New York State Restaurant Association, the legislation will include $28.6 billion that will be going to the United States restaurant industry as a whole.