Washington, DC
November 4, 2011

The President’s jobs legislation continues to take a beating here in Washington. Conference President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio A. Villaraigosa has sent many e-mails and messages to all mayors requesting letters to be signed. Pledges to be taken, and op-eds to be written. Many mayors have responded. But it is all to no avail. The Senate is divided and has not responded to the nation’s mayors.

President Obama has been out there in the hustings, making speeches, as he hammers Congress each time for not acting on his jobs bill. The Senate is divided and has not responded to the President. There is a stalemate here in Washington.

Underneath the e-mails, pledges, and Presidential speeches, there are two pieces of legislation that are real, and they do have Republican support: The HUD Community Development Block Grant program and the renewal of the surface transportation act (SAFETEA-LU).

The House Republicans have provided $3.5 billion for CDBG. The Democratic-led Senate has reported out $2.85 billion. House Republicans would provide $700 million more than Senate Democrats. We have raised our concerns about this on every occasion. On Friday, October 29, at 8:00pm EST, leadership mayors had a conference call with Appropriations Chair Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii. This call was arranged by our good friend and Advisory Board Member, Hilo Mayor Billy Kenoi. Chairman Inouye is a fierce protector of our municipalities and he promised to at least help bring the Senate funding level in line to provide funding that equals what House Republicans are providing.

Newton Mayor Setti Warren, Chair of our Housing and Community Development Committee, as U.S.Mayor goes to press, continues to be active for all mayors supporting this priority program. Mayor Warren has asked mayors to join him on November 9 here in DC, seeking support of the Senate Democrats to provide CDBG funds to match what House Republicans are providing to cities, large and small, throughout the nation.

The Administration has been focused on the President’s Jobs Act. HUD has been focused on defending the HOME program. CDBG has had ambivalent funding support from the Administration since the early days and up to the present. Mayors have registered their concern to the Administration at each step in the budget and legislative process.

The support for CDBG continues to come from the rank and file of the members of The United States Conference of Mayors, The National League of Cities, and The National Association of Counties. While the Governors get one third of this money, they as a group seem to care less. It’s the local governments, not the state governments, who will save this program. And we must continue to fight to let no one be cautious or tear asunder the fabric of a 37-year old, federal-city successful initiative that does so much for our cities and counties, and urban, suburban and rural people.

We must continue to be vigilant, robust and fierce as we go forward to push the Democrats in Washington to give us the equal amount House Republicans are providing.

The President’s Jobs Act infrastructure initiative totaling $60 billion has failed, as expected. Now Senate Chair Barbara Boxer of California and Republican Ranking Minority Member Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe will move to renew the multi-billion dollar surface transportation bill November 9. There is bipartisan support within Boxer’s Committee to move a renewal bill.

The challenge we face is the Senate Finance Committee and mayors are, this week and next, focusing their attention in urging the Committee to mark up and approve the funding as recommended by the Boxer Committee.

We applaud the bipartisan work between Chairman Boxer and Ranking Member Inhofe. We now urge Democrats and Republicans of the Senate Finance Committee to unite in bipartisan action.

Again, reminding all that the renewal of the current transportation law (SAFETEA-LU) is not to be confused with President Obama’s $60 billion infrastructure proposal that fell short this week. What we are addressing now is a renewal of the current law, which basically provides inflation-adjusted funding for the next two years. So, there is no overall new money here. But it is important that we have this funding, and we very much appreciate the bipartisan leadership led by Senators Boxer and Inhofe as we keep our transportation systems functioning and prevent even more unemployment.

And, we are very pleased that the Boxer/Inhofe bill will contain a major increase in innovative financing (TIFIA) as championed by our President Mayor Villaraigosa through his America Fast Forward initiative, and as supported by The U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Thanks to all mayors for your help to save CDBG and to maintain current transportation funding. These are real investments for us. Again, without CDBG funding and with reduced transportation funding, unemployment will increase and our budget shortfalls will be deeper.

We ask you to pay close attention to our legislative alerts over the next few weeks. With your continued support, we will prevail.