PITTSBURGH, PA (January 20, 2021) Mayor William Peduto has joined a bipartisan coalition of more than 280 mayors nationwide calling on Congress to take action on pandemic and local government relief measures.
The local leaders, in conjunction with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, wrote Congressional leaders to urge support of President Biden’s new plan to end the pandemic and save the American economy by providing direct fiscal relief to all cities— large, medium, and small—and boosting support for America’s vaccination program.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage communities and cause economic suffering, the President has put forward a comprehensive package of relief measures that includes $350 billion in direct aid to state and local governments. The letter from 284 mayors, available in full here, urges Congress to support the measures.
It says in part:
"American cities and our essential workers have been serving at the frontlines of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic for nearly a year. We have been charged with executing herculean public health efforts and an unprecedented emergency response. Despite immense fiscal pressure, your local government partners oversaw those efforts, while trying to maintain essential services and increase our internal capacity to provide support for residents and businesses who have been crippled by a tanking economy.
And yet, as the economic engines of our country, local governments will be relied upon to lead the longterm economic recovery our nation so desperately needs, even as, with few exceptions, cities have been largely left without direct federal assistance. The lack of adequate support has resulted in budget cuts, service reductions, and job losses. Sadly, nearly one million local government jobs have already been lost during the pandemic. Our essential workers deserve federal relief like any other sector."
