Washington, D.C.
February 11, 2005

CDBG Elimination

The Administration's Budget released this week, if enacted, will eliminate the Community Development Block Grant program at HUD.

Conference President and Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic chaired a major press conference here in Washington to announce the United States Conference of Mayors is supporting full funding of the CDBG program at $4.7 billion and he vowed an all-out effort to demand that the Congress kill the proposal to eliminate CDBG.

Standing with Conference President Plusquellic, vowing to kill the CDBG elimination proposal, were the leaders of the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, National Community Development Association and the National Association for County, Community and Economic Development, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, National Conference of Black Mayors, Realty Strategy Associates, representing the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Real Estate Roundtable.

The proposed elimination of the CDBG program providing millions of dollars to the states, counties, and cities would cause great economic harm to the community and economic development of our American people in states, cities and counties of our nation.

For three decades Democrats and Republicans have hailed this program as a model as to how a federal/state/county/city initiative should be designed and established. Every time we have a need for a federal initiative to be established over the 36 years I have served the nation's mayors, our leaders always use CDBG as a model for structure and distribution — as a pinnacle of partnership between Washington and our state houses, our county court houses and our city halls of the major as well as city halls and town halls of medium sized cities small towns and villages.

The website of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is chock full of best practices citing excellent examples of how state and local officials are using the community development block grants to keep our states, counties and cities strong for the American people. We send billions of your taxpayer's dollars to Washington and Congress allocates your money in a variety of ways. And the CDBG way has always been held up as the best way to get some of your money back to you so that you can help your city and your people.

The Administration's Budget to eliminate CDBG is a shock. We don-t really know who came up with the idea of eliminating CDBG. We have been told it came from the underling staff of The Office of Management and Budget. We had no consultation.

It is most unfortunate they have put President Bush in this position. It is most unfortunate that OMB officials have put Republican Senators and House members in this position. There will be great political chaos if the idea to eliminate CDBG is not quickly dropped so we can all go back to work on getting some things done that need to be done.

Today, together , the mayors want to work with President Bush on eliminating unfunded mandates, on eliminating adult illiteracy, on eliminating big law suits our local governments get hit with through working on tort reform, on eliminating drugs being sold on our streets, in our schools and neighborhoods, on eliminating the terrorist that may be in our country before they eliminate more of us, on eliminating AIDS, on eliminating teenage pregnancies, on eliminating traffic congestion, on eliminating unsafe bridges and railroad crossings, on eliminating unsafe and underdeveloped airports, on eliminating gaps in our border patrols, on eliminating unsafe cargo that arrives from around the globe to our ports, on eliminating the blight of abandoned crack houses in our cities, on eliminating meth labs in rural, suburban and urban areas, on eliminating crowded house trailers full of school children adjacent to schools houses and crowded class rooms in our school houses, on eliminating our crowded prisoners through reentry initiatives for millions of men and women coming from prison back into our neighborhoods, on eliminating prejudice of sound faith-based initiatives, on eliminating the flu through adequate flu vaccines for all, on eliminating hate crimes, on eliminating the battering of women, on eliminating racism and intolerance of all races, all colors, all sexes, all ethnic groups and religious groups, on eliminating cancer through awareness initiatives proving prevention can save lives, on elimination of pollution in our air and in our water, on elimination of dangerous additives in the processed and fresh food, the meat, the vegetable and fruit we eat on eliminating pornography on the internet that harms our children, on eliminating fraud and abuse in our corporations and in all government agencies, federal, state and local, on eliminating the insurgents in Iraq through supporting more funds needed for our brave troops fighting for a free Iraq, and last but not least on eliminating the potholes in our streets.

Yes, there's a lot that needs to be eliminated in our great nation and around the globe and we, together, will continue to spend our time working night and day to meet those challenges. But the elimination of The Community Development Block Grant program — a federal/city partnership that has served this nation so well for thirty years is not one that needs to be eliminated. It is most unfortunate that we must fight to save CDBG when our energies could be harnessed against the other challenges we face daily.

Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. Bush, Clinton and now President George W. Bush all supported and signed into law the renewal and increased funding for CDBG.

The Administration's Office of Management and Budget has proposed to eliminate CDBG. Congress must now dispose.

Conference President Plusquellic and the elected leaders of NLC and NACo have asked Congress to kill the proposal to eliminate CDBG. Many governors are supporting the county and city officials as they ask Congress to determine this bad idea from OMB dead on arrival.

Now is not the time for inertia. We must ask each Senator and every Member of the House of Representatives to vote full funding of CDBG and we must hold them accountable to our constituencies in our states, our counties, our cities, our towns and our villages.

We are encouraged by the support already voiced by Senators and House members from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisles. But we must not take one vote for granted.

State, county, and city officials need to pick up the phone and let your Senators and House members know what you will lose through this CDBG elimination.

It is time for the old time religion politics. Let your voices be heard to Congress

You must act now on this urgent matter.

Conference President Don Plusquellic and I will continue to keep you updated on our coalition efforts. Please pay close attention to our notices and messages you will be receiving from our coalition efforts.