Letter to Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, and Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader - Congressman Jason Crow Leads District-Area Mayors in Calling for State and Local Funding in Next Stimulus Relief Funding Package

Letter

Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Leader McCarthy:

As elected officials representing Colorado's Sixth Congressional District and the cities and towns within, we are grateful for the $2.2 billion the state of Colorado received from the CARES package. However, we implore you to address the substantial shortfalls of the CARES package for state and local governments in the next COVID-19 legislation.

Local governments provide critical and lifesaving services to our residents--every day--and especially during the COVID-19 crisis. The crisis has dramatically increased costs for local governments who are providing necessary health care and first response services, while contributing to a precipitous decline in municipal revenue streams. To combat this untenable situation, we ask for the following three items in the next Congressional package:

First, we implore you to lower the 500,000-person population limit for direct funding. In the Sixth Congressional District of Colorado, there are eight cities including Aurora, Brighton, Centennial, Foxfield, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, and Thornton--none of which have a population greater than 500,000, and therefore all are ineligible to receive direct funding. We encourage you to include H.R. 6467, the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, cosponsored by Congressman Jason Crow, in the next package to address this issue.

Second, we ask that you expand eligibility for COVID relief funds to include revenue shortfalls and other unplanned expenses. This crisis has impacted every aspect of life, and cities need the flexibility in their budgets to maintain essential services like water supply networks, waste management, and police and fire departments. As such, we support efforts like H.R. 6508, the State Operations Stabilization Act, which Rep. Crow has also cosponsored, to allow states and localities to spend Coronavirus Relief Fund on backfilling lost revenue and other unplanned expenses. We urge you to consider this legislation--and any other forward-looking counterpart for future Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars--for the next stimulus package.

Third, we urge you to allow state and local governments to take advantage of the payroll tax cuts in Families First Coronavirus Response Act to offset paid sick leave and paid family leave requirements. This payroll tax cut is currently available to private companies but not governments--and that should be immediately rectified in the next package. As such, we urge inclusion of H.R. 6643, the Supporting State and Local Leaders Act, also cosponsored by Rep. Crow, in any upcoming legislation.

Without the stabilization funding our towns and cities desperately need, they will be unable to continue providing critical services. Our local leaders have faced enormous costs while responding to the COVID- 19 pandemic, including rapid activation and expansion of emergency services, transitioning to telework to ensure continuity of municipal services, overtime and hazard compensation for first responders, personal protective equipment, and more. Without your support for addressing these three major shortfalls, our towns and cities will find it increasingly difficult to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to implement responsible economic recovery initiatives.

Thank you for your consideration.

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