July 31,1997

(7/31/97) Response To Announcement Of Federal Tax And Budget Reconciliation Agreement

In cities across the nation today, mayors are expressing their appreciation to the President and the Congress for a job well done. The tax and budget reconciliation package they produced, when it is approved, will equip mayors with tools they can use to spur their local economies and generate new jobs for their residents.

In a united, bipartisan voice, we have been calling on the Administration and Congress for help with our "brownfields," the hundreds of thousands of acres of abandoned industrial tracts contaminated by previous occupants. This agreement responds with a $1.5 billion tax incentive program which for the next three years will allow businesses to "expense" the cost of cleaning up brownfields sites for reuse.

We have been expressing serious concern about the ability of welfare recipients to find and hold jobs. This agreement responds with $3 billion in welfare-to-work grants over the next two years, grants which will go largely through the states to local Private Industry Councils.

We have been asking for more help to revitalize our most distressed neighborhoods and have consistently supported HUD's efforts on our behalf. This agreement responds with a second round of 15 Empowerment Zones in cities, new EZs that will be eligible for the brownfields tax incentive and other aids to job creation.

The President and the Congress responded to us in several more ways, providing continued eligibility for SSI for non-citizens legally residing in the U.S., making adjustments to the Section 8 assisted housing projects to ensure that expiring contracts can be renewed in the years ahead, shifting more than $6 billion in gas tax revenues to transportation trust funds so that the funds can be directed to transportation needs, creating child tax credits for working families, and extending health care coverage to five million of the nation's 10 million uninsured children.

The tax and budget agreement is an example of what can be accomplished when House and Senate members, Democrat and Republican, listen to mayors, Democrat and Republican, on the most pressing needs of urban and suburban America. It's an example of what can be accomplished when the President and his Cabinet reach out for our support on initiatives such as these, and we respond.

In September, the leaders of The U.S. Conference of Mayors will convene in Fort Wayne to set our agenda for the year ahead. Implementing the brownfields tax credit program, the welfare-to-work initiative and the new Empowerment Zones will be a big part of that agenda.

Mayors are committed to keeping the bipartisan drive alive.

CONTACT: Mike Brown, (202) 861-6708

The United States Conference of Mayors

J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director
1620 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone (202) 293-7330, FAX (202) 293-2352

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