House Speaker Pledges Agenda To Revitalize Cities

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (IL) told the Thursday Plenary Session of the Conference of Mayors that Congress is pledged to work closely with President Clinton and his Administration on an agenda to help revitalize America’s cities.

The Illinois Republican, noting he participated in a 1997 Congressional forum on drug control, told the assembled mayors that he also participated in a recent meeting with the President on Chicago’s South Side where he said he committed to working on Congressional legislation to spur business development in neighborhoods lagging behind the national economic boom.

Speaker Hastert said a proposed Republican initiative, the Community Renewal Act, was important to meet these objectives and roughly parallels the Clinton Administration’s New Markets Initiative. “We have some differences between these two bills but the President and his staff are working with us to resolve some differences and, in a spirit of bipartisanship, we hope to have a bill passed in the House of Representatives by February 12th, Lincoln’s birthday,” the Speaker said.

The Speaker also said he was hopeful some version of Brownfields legislation will pass this year, a top priority of the Conference. Other priorities which the Speaker listed were paying off the public debt, reducing government regulations, and providing tax relief for Americans.

Finally, Speaker Hastert praised Chicago public school reform steps taken by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, saying a “complete turnaround” has taken place in Chicago’s schools under Mayor Daley’s leadership.