Mayors Across The Country Pressure Congress On Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is urging Congress “to take immediate action” on the bipartisan infrastructure framework, according to a letter sent Tuesday.

The letter is signed by over 369 bipartisan mayors from all 50 states plus D.C., a press release from the White House noted. Democratic Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley is leading the push to get Congress to pass the bill, which was developed by a group of five Democrat and five Republican lawmakers in June.

“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,” the mayors wrote in the letter. “Thus, we believe that this framework deserves bipartisan support in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.”

The mayors brought up the group efforts on the American Rescue Plan as well and requested to be involved in the process moving forward. The American Rescue Plan saw Republicans, Democrats and mayors come “together through The United States Conference of Mayors to help secure $350 billion in direct relief for state and local governments,” according to the letter.

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 17: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during her weekly media availability on Capitol Hill on June 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

The letter also detailed two requests from the hundreds of mayors. They first asked that funding previously signed into law to help cities with the COVID-19 pandemic be off the table as a possibility for how to pay for the infrastructure package. The mayors also asked for Congress to commit to “more localism” by providing federal resources for the communities to prosper.

“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,” the mayors wrote.

The bipartisan infrastructure framework, which totals about $1.2 trillion over eight years and includes $579 billion in new spending, is significantly smaller than President Joe Biden’s initial $2.3 trillion plan and largely focuses on traditional infrastructure. The president almost derailed the bipartisan bill after declaring he wouldn’t sign the package without an accompanied reconciliation bill, though the comments were quickly walked back.

Still, Biden has been promoting policies not included in the bipartisan bill. These proposals are being called “generational investments in human infrastructure,” a White House official previously told CNN. The president traveled July 7 to McHenry County, Illinois — a county former President Donald Trump won in 2020 — to push these proposals. (RELATED: Progressives Outline Their Demands For Dems’ Reconciliation Infrastructure Bill)

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