Mayor Chris Hoy is one of 14 new mayors meeting in a half-day forum with senior Biden administration officials in Washington, D.C., today. They're learning how cities can access resources from various federal programs including:
- COVID-19 aid bill,
- Bipartisan infrastructure law,
- Inflation Reduction act package on health care and climate change.
The briefings are intended to break down complex funding bills and connect mayors to Biden administration leaders, to help direct federal spending to cities’ needs. Cabinet secretaries and senior Biden administration official also want to hear from mayors about issues facing their communities.
“As they’re coming into office, we just want to make sure that they know what resources are available to them, that they’re connected to our office and Intergovernmental Affairs” and to the agencies that lead much of administration work, said Julie Rodriguez, director to the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, as quoted in the Virginia Mercury.
Fourteen mayors will attend the forum, including Salem’s Mayor, Chris Hoy, and Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown of North Las Vegas, Nevada; Mayor Becky Daggett of Flagstaff, Arizona; Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg of Louisville, Kentucky; Mayor-elect Garnett Johnson of Augusta, Georgia; Mayor-elect Phillip Jones of Newport News, Virginia; Mayor-elect Harvey Ward of Gainesville, Florida; Mayor-elect Hollies Winston of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
