Joe Biden

ICYMI: Texas and Georgia Mayors Urge Congress to Pass the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

October 25, 2021

'We have to have some bold action taken at the national level'

Today, mayors from Texas and Georgia hosted news conferences in their states and urged Congress to pass President Biden's Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.

In Texas, the mayors of San Antonio, Houston, Austin and Lubbock noted how critical the bills' housing, workforce development, and infrastructure repair provisions will be for Texas families and communities, and called for Congress to "continue empowering local governments to improve the lives of our residents" by passing "this comprehensive framework."

In Georgia, the mayors of Savannah, Brookhaven, Decatur and Clarkston highlighted the climate provisions of the Build Back Better Agenda in a virtual press call. During the call, Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett touted the bill's climate investments and told reporters that "We're trying to do our part in reducing our carbon emissions and tackling climate change, but this effort cannot be done just by our city, and like cities alone. We have to have some bold action taken at the national level as well."

See below for a sampling of their local coverage:

KSAT-TV (ABC San Antonio): Texas mayors urge Congress to pass infrastructure, spending bills
[Fares Sabawi, 10/25/21]

Mayors want Congress to take action on Build Back Better bill, Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

The mayors of Texas' largest cities called on Congress to pass critical funding legislation during a news conference on Monday morning.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg joined the mayors of Houston, Austin and Lubbock to urge federal lawmakers to pass the Build Back Better bill along with the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The mayors said funding from the bill would have massive impacts on their communities and the state of Texas.

In San Antonio, that funding could help San Antonio address a number of challenges, Nirenberg said, including housing, childhood poverty and workforce development. Nirenberg said the community has also identified roughly $6 billion in infrastructure needs, like road and drainage improvements.

"Congress can continue empowering local governments to improve the lives of our residents by taking immediate action on this comprehensive framework," Nirenberg said. "Investing in our recovery can be done without politics."

Though critics may oppose the proposed legislation due to its price tag, Nirenberg said the costlier option is to do nothing.

"When we don't invest in our infrastructure, when we don't invest in our people and our communities, that exacerbates the challenges that we've seen on clear display during the pandemic," Nirenberg said.

Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats are still working on paring down the spending bill in order to shore up support. It remains unclear which programs would be cut from the bill.

"The fact is, that if there are fewer dollars to spend there are choices to be made," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday at the Capitol.

The Texas mayors said they hope to see the bill make significant progress this week.

Decaturish: Decatur, Clarkston mayors call on Congress to pass Build Back Better Act, fight climate change
[Zoe Seiler, 10/25/21]

Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett and Clarkston Mayor Beverly Burks joined the mayors of Brookhaven and Savannah on Thursday, Oct. 21, to urge Congress to include climate change measures in the Build Back Better Act.

During the virtual press conference, the mayors urged lawmakers to take the opportunity to make the necessary investments to tackle the climate crisis, create millions of jobs and lower electricity bills for individuals.

The Build Back Better Act provides funding and establishes programs relating to areas such as education, labor, child care, health care, taxes, immigration, and the environment. If passed, the bill would provide funding for management of the National Forest System; safe drinking water, energy-efficiency, and weatherization projects; and electric vehicles and zero-emission, heavy-duty vehicles.

There would also be funding for wildfire prevention, drought relief, conservation efforts, climate change research, and transit services and clean energy projects in low-income communities.

Decatur has experienced the impacts of climate change as residents see changing growing seasons in their gardens, experience hotter summers, and stormwater continues to plague the city during more frequent and severe storm events, Mayor Garrett said.

"Climate change is here, and we know it in Decatur. We see it as it's happening," she said. "Decatur sees climate change as a major threat to our way of life, and we're taking aggressive steps to mitigate these efforts."

In the recently adopted strategic plan, residents identified climate change as one of the highest community priorities and have committed to working to reduce those steps. The city is working on creating a clean energy plan that will focus on the reduction in traditional energy sources in Decatur. The city is adding an array of solar panels to its public works building but seeks more funding for additional solar panels on municipal buildings.

"Recognizing that even more drastic climate changes are occurring, the city has collaborated with local Agnes Scott College to develop a resilience plan so that we are better able to withstand some of the we know are coming with climate change," Garrett said.

The city is additionally working to make progress on its bike lanes and pedestrian paths, and recently adopted the stormwater master plan that identifies four projects to complete over the next three years. The city hopes to also convert all of its lighting to LED lights, create a pilot program for compost collection, and conduct a heat island impact study.

"We're trying to do our part in reducing our carbon emissions and tackling climate change, but this effort cannot be done just by our city, and like cities alone. We have to have some bold action taken at the national level as well," Garrett said.

Burks added that the city of Clarkston understands its duty and responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint. The city has taken steps to do so by banning single-use plastics, educating and encouraging residents to recycle, and updating zoning requirements to include solar and energy-efficient development, along with protecting the city's tree canopy.

The city has also experienced the impacts of weather conditions. The city has encountered infrastructure issues due to stormwater runoff, a declining tree canopy due to development and higher utility cost due to increasing temperatures, Burks said.

"But we know that the reduction of climate change will require a national, and international, intervention," Burks said. "That's why I encourage Congress to include climate investments in the Build Back Better act. We will reduce our usage of fossil fuel and increase our usage of non-emitting sources, such as wind, solar and hydropower. More importantly, this is also a job creator. As a reminder, every person on this planet has a duty to leave the earth better than we received it."

Joseph R. Biden, Jr., ICYMI: Texas and Georgia Mayors Urge Congress to Pass the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/353023

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