The Nation's Mayors Call For Deficit Action

The U.S. Conference of Mayors to Senate's Gang of Eight: Metro Economies Key to Nation's Recovery

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) President Philadelphia, PA Michael A. Nutter, along with its Vice President Mesa, AZ Mayor Scott Smith, Second Vice President Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, USCM Defense Conversion Task Force Chair Phoenix, AZ Mayor Greg Stanton, and USCM Metro Economies Committee Chair Louisville, KY Mayor Greg Fischer, today released the following letter to the Gang of Eight in the Senate urging a balanced approach to a budget agreement to prevent sequestration:

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The nation's mayors are encouraged that you are engaged in a serious bipartisan effort to avert a national fiscal crisis, which now is just over two months away. The importance of a framework that will finally produce Congressional action on a balanced and fair economic recovery and deficit reduction plan cannot be overstated. 

In developing this framework – one that could shape the nation's fiscal policy for many years to come – we urge you to carefully consider the impact of your recommendations on the nation's metropolitan economies, the engines that all Americans will depend on to power our economic recovery in the months and years ahead. These are the areas that are responsible for over 90 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, nearly 90 percent of all wage and salary income, and 86 percent of the nation's employment. They are the areas on which U.S. global competitiveness, and economic growth and stability, ultimately depend.   

To the extent that your fiscal framework supports the efforts of our businesses and industries to innovate, improve productivity, and expand into markets at home and abroad, to the extent that it supports the education and training that equips our workers to meet emerging job demands, and to the extent that it invests in essential infrastructure and public safety, our metro economies, and so our nation, will grow stronger. 

While not agreeing with all the provisions contained in its recommendations, The U.S. Conference of Mayors believes that the Simpson-Bowles Commission did a commendable job of bringing its members together on a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines spending cuts with new revenue.  We urge you to work in the spirit of that Commission, to prevent the implementation of the approaching budget sequestration that would ignore the nation's domestic and defense priorities and seriously undermine any economic recovery efforts, and to offer a balanced plan for recovery that has the potential to restore the confidence of our people, and the world, in the leadership of our national government. 

The nation's mayors stand ready to work with you during this critical period.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,295 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

SOURCE The U.S. Conference of Mayors