369 Mayors from All 50 States Urge Congress to Pass Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, Stress Implementation Priorities

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Jul 13, 2021, 10:28 ET

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 369 mayors – including Republicans, Democrats and Independents from all 50 states and the District of Columbia – sent a letter to Congress urging them to take immediate action on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework announced by President Biden and a group of Republican and Democratic Senators on June 24^th.

In their letter, the mayors write, "This framework would be the largest long-term investment in our nation's infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century – $1.2 trillion over eight years – to help make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is crucial to making meaningful progress on one of the most pressing and unifying challenges facing our country – the need for comprehensive investment in public transportation; roads; bridges; passenger and freight rail; drinking water and wastewater; clean energy and electrification; legacy pollution cleanup; cyber-attack and extreme weather-resiliency; and universal broadband access. Thus, we believe that this framework deserves bipartisan support in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives."

In the letter, mayors emphasized two key implementation priorities for the Framework. First, mayors strongly urged that no funding previously signed into law to help cities address the health, public safety and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic be "clawed back," repurposed or redirected to help pay for new investments in America's infrastructure. Second, mayors stressed that federal leaders should continue to empower local leaders by investing in communities through proven delivery systems such as Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, Community Development Block Grants, and Surface Transportation Block Grants.

The full text of the letter with signatures can be found here and below:

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Majority Leader
United States Senate

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker
United States House of Representatives

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
Republican Leader
United States House of Representatives

Dear Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, and Leader McCarthy:

On behalf of The United States Conference of Mayors, we urge you to take immediate action on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework announced by President Biden and a group of Republican and Democratic Senators on June 24 in the spirit of both progress and compromise.

This framework would be the largest long-term investment in our nation's infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century – $1.2 trillion over eight years – to help make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is crucial to making meaningful progress on one of the most pressing and unifying challenges facing our country – the need for comprehensive investment in public transportation; roads; bridges; passenger and freight rail; drinking water and wastewater; clean energy and electrification; legacy pollution cleanup; cyber-attack and extreme weather-resiliency; and universal broadband access. Thus, we believe that this framework deserves bipartisan support in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.

As was the case with the historic American Rescue Plan – where Democrat, Republican and independent mayors came together through The United States Conference of Mayors to help secure $350 billion in direct relief for state and local governments – we know that details of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework will need to be developed by the leadership and relevant committees in Congress. As this process moves forward, we would like to work closely with you and stress the following points.

First, we strongly urge that no funding previously signed into law to help cities address the health, public safety and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic be "clawed back," repurposed or redirected to help pay for new investments in America's infrastructure. Second, we call on our federal leaders to continue to empower local decision-makers by investing federal resources to help us build stronger communities and lift up those who have suffered so much during this pandemic – many of whom never fully recovered from the economic meltdown of '08. Committing to more localism can be accomplished by investing directly in our cities through existing and proven delivery systems such as Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, Community Development Block Grants, and Surface Transportation Block Grants. These are the tools that will help us build back better.

With these priorities in mind, we strongly urge Congress to move forward on developing and implementing the details of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework so that it can be passed in the Senate and House and then signed into law as soon as possible.

Thank you for your leadership, and please feel free to reach out to our CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran at 202-744-9110 / [email protected] or Chief of Staff Ed Somers at 202-744-9223 / [email protected] to discuss this priority request.

About the United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are more than 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Mayors