Mayors Gallego and Romero Call for Congress to Include Aid to State and Local Governments in the American Rescue Plan

Do you want your local sewage system to be well maintained?

How about your clean water supply?

Or law enforcement patrols, protection from fires,  and teachers in the classroom?

Those are some of the public sector areas that may face budget cuts and staffing reductions if state and local governments in Arizona and across the country do not receive federal aid in the American Rescue Plan.

Virtually all Republicans in Congress have maintained that such aid is unnecessary, citing statistics that show most state and local revenues have not dramatically fallen. Some have even called such aid “a Blue State Bailout.”

However, most Republican Governors and Mayors disagree with that assessment and have expressed they would welcome the federal aid.

Just ask Jim Justice, the Republican Governor of West Virginia who wants a Rescue Plan as large as possible.

Ask John Giles, the Mayor of Mesa, Arizona, who penned a joint op-ed with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego in AZ Central calling for more federal assistance to states and local governments in the American Rescue Plan.

At a noon presser today (March 3, 2021,) Mayor Gallego, along with Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, Mesa City Council Member Francisco Heredia, and frontline workers Lena Chacon Bernal and Jason Henley explained the vital reasons for including state and local government aid in the latest COVID 19 relief plan.

All agreed that the American Rescue Plan was essential to help state and local governments  provide:

• Vital public sector services like sanitation, law enforcement, firefighters, and educators.
• Aid front-line blue-collar and essential workers and protect their jobs from budget cuts and staffing reductions.
• Help working-class families.
• Help communities recover faster from the pandemic.
• Plug budget holes caused by the pandemic.
• Vaccinations to local residents.
• Food on the table for people in need.
• Assistance to small businesses.
• Rental and Utility aid.
• Grants to Not for Profits that help groups like the homeless.

Mayor Gallego said that giving aid to state and local governments is “not a red or blue state issue,” because all cities and states, regardless of which political party controls them, have been “the frontlines combatting the virus.”

Mayor Romero said “it was insulting” for some leaders in Washington to think that “cities, states, schools, and counties do not need money.” 

Councilman Heredia warned against adopting “austerity” measures because those do not help the long-term viability of communities.

Frontline worker Lena Chacon, a person who does not have the luxury of working from home in her position with the City of Phoenix Sanitation, relayed that she is very tired and sad because she has lost family members and work colleagues to the Coronavirus.

She expressed frustration that some members of Congress are not supportive of state and local aid and chastised them for not including it in the last COVID 19 Relief Bill (CARES Act,) saying “just think how bad it would be if the first responders were laid off.” 

That sentiment was echoed by Jason Henley, a frontline worker who makes sure the clean water coming out of the tap is safe to drink. He found it “disheartening some in Congress do not think funding clean water is a priority.”

MOVING FORWARD

State and Local Aid should be included in the American Rescue Plan so communities can come through the pandemic in as good a position as possible.

To not fund them would be public service malpractice.

Fortunately, it appears that those funding provisions will be in the final American Rescue Plan although the final number (with some moderates wanting to target some state and local aid to infrastructure projects like broadband and rural health centers) has not yet been determined.

One clause Democrats should put in the measure is one that prohibits governors or mayors from using federal funding to provide tax cuts from state revenues. Another provision should be to prevent state and local executives (like Doug Ducey) from hoarding some of the aid into state coffers.

State and Local Aid is good for the country and the American People. Thankfully, there are Executive and Legislative Branches in Washington DC that agrees with that.