January 29, 2010
Washington, DC
Washington and Jobs for People Who Want to Work
Following our Seattle Leadership Meeting last Fall and through October, November, and December, The United States Conference of Mayors has had up front on our political screen…jobs, jobs, jobs.
As the President of The Conference of Mayors, Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz led a group of mayors to The White House on October 27 2009 to discuss the mayors’ recommendations. In those meetings the theme emerged that across our nation people without jobs were demanding action. Mayors registered deep unhappiness in the people they meet every day wanting work. Mayors can’t run or hide. America’s mayors are engaged with people, more so than any elected officials on earth.
The House acted on a jobs bill on December 16, 2009. We commended Speaker Pelosi and House Leaders at that time for including our priorities and indicated our concern that there was no money for energy, green jobs, no change in the way regular highway money is distributed, and no TIGER transportation grants.
We then moved to the Senate and throughout the Fall, my Chief of Staff, Ed Somers and a top USCM staff team here in Washington have worked the Senate side for the past three months as the Senate tried to decide what it might do, or not do, for millions who want to work.
The election of maverick Republican Senator Scott Brown has turned Washington on its head. Suddenly Washington is also saying it’s jobs, jobs, jobs. It’s amazing what one election can do.
And during our Winter Meeting, after mayors met with the appropriate Chairs and Senate Leaders, a jobs bill has begun to unfold. At least we can say now the Senate will act. Our challenge and task will be to continue to follow up to make sure there is a more balanced funding of transportation funding, funds for green jobs through energy block grants, TIGER transportation grants and increased Summer youth funds.
78th Winter Meeting
Conference of Mayors President Elizabeth Kautz, standing with mayors from across the nation, united, unveiled the 2010 New Metro Agenda. Adopted by our leadership on January 6, this Metro Agenda leads with the demand that the Senate act, and act now, to pass a jobs bill at the top of our demands.
Our meeting in The White House was totally dedicated to the jobless economy. The day began with a session moderated by Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, between Mayors and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and Dr. Larry Summers, Director of the White House's National Economic Council. It was a frank discussion as we work with The President and his advisors on strategies to bring economic activity back to Main Street America, back to small businesses, and above all produce jobs for so many Americans.
Following the session moderated by Ms. Jarrett, Vice President Biden, and President Obama came out and after the Vice President introduced the President and set the meeting up, there was an honest give and take discussion between President Obama and our mayors. The President gave us insight into how his first year has progressed and he is quite aware of the unemployment rates in so many of our cities and it is a priority of his and of his Administration.
A special thanks to David Agnew, Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, and to Ed Somers, my Chief of Staff, who worked hard and worked together with President Kautz and me to design a Winter Meeting providing open discussion with the Obama Administration at the Capital Hilton and inside The White House.
Alaska Senator Begich
We are lucky and most fortunate to have a mayor in the Senate who has become our mayors’ voice in the Senate. Through this period as the Senate Jobs Bill was being developed, Senator Begich has been there for us.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
The sister of a mayor, the daughter of a mayor – the girl from Baltimore and now The Speaker of The House continues to prove that the nation’s mayors have as their friend, The Speaker of The House. The moment she became Speaker, Past President Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer and I and other mayors met with her as she endorsed our 2007 Ten Point Plan which called for energy block grants to state and local governments to produce green jobs. At our Winter Meeting she said that she supports funding now and multi-year funding for the energy block grants that will produce green jobs and provide so much to get us out of this recession. She commended our new President, Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz for her leadership in presenting the 2010 Metro Agenda and the Speaker pledged her strong consideration as we all work together to do what we can to bring economic recovery to Main Street and jobs to people who want to work.
Next Steps – President Kautz Leads Campaign
During and after the Winter Meeting, mayors commended our new President, Mayor Kautz, for cutting back on the long speeches from our podiums to provide more dialogue, more questions from the floor, more give and take, more questions and answers. President Kautz is determined to follow through and work with us as we provide in all of our meetings more conversations from mayors. Mayors speak out so often in their own cities. But when they come together as they did at this Winter Meeting and when they are given the opportunity to speak, and to coalesce, it is a magical power that cannot be dismissed. The mayors left united and they will follow President Kautz as we go forward.
Where are we? The President’s State of the Union is a reset button for Congress to act on a jobs bill. Still, there is work to be done. President Kautz went home, turned around and came back this week to present our 2010 Metro Agenda to 12 Senators as Senate Majority Leader Reid convened and requested our President to come and present our recommendations. She was a powerful witness as she gave your demands quite forcibly to the Senate Leader and Senators assembled.
And so the campaign for Main Street recovery and jobs continues during the worst recession we have had since the Great Depression. 78 years ago mayors came together during the most difficult times to fight for jobs. Now in 2010, it’s a different world in so many ways but there’s one thing that remains as true in 2010 as it was in 1932 – the fact is if you are out of work and you want a job your mayor knows it. In 1932, mayors knew they had to confront Washington. They came here. They did it. They formed our great organization, and we’ve been here ever since. Today, President Kautz and the nation’s mayors once again rise up to bring the message to Washington that Main Street and the thousands who live in our metro areas want to get up every day and go to work.
While we have seen signs of progress toward the passage of a Senate jobs bill, President Kautz and our mayors are not taking anything for granted. She is bringing mayors back to Washington next month and the next month until Washington acts. She will need your help and from what I saw, heard, and felt at this Winter Meeting, mayors have united behind her and together we will demand and get the response and action we need for our cities and our people.
