Letter to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader - Mucarsel-Powell Leads Letter With Local Mayors To Urge Congressional Leadership To Expand COVID-19 Emergency Aid Directly To Smaller Cities And Counties

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McConnell:

We, the undersigned County Executives and Mayors of cities and counties with populations of under 500,000 in the 26th Congressional District of Florida write to urge for the inclusion of desperately needed funding for State and local governments in the next emergency coronavirus package.

With more than 25,172 cases and more than 1,065 deaths, South Florida is one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak in America. As of May 14, there were more than 14,837 cases in FL-26 counties. Florida has been under a statewide shelter-in-place order since April 1, 2020.

Florida State and the small local county and municipal governments in our community are facing enormous costs in order to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including rapid activation and expansion of emergency services, overtime and hazard compensation for first responders, personal protective equipment, and more. The coronavirus pandemic has not only increased costs for local governments, but shelter-in-place orders, though necessary, have also negatively impacted vital revenue such as sales taxes, court fees, parking fees, energy tax receipts and other revenue that State and local governments depend on.

Without targeted stabilization funding, our State, counties, cities, and towns will be unable to continue providing critical services to our residents. We appreciate the support Congress has provided so far, but we are concerned that without significant additional federal support to Florida we will be forced to slash essential services, including public schools, police and fire departments, and much more.

That is why we strongly urge you to include support for State and local governments in any future COVID-19 relief package. We support efforts to allow state, county, and municipal governments to seek assistance regardless of population size and without onerous preconditions from the federal government.

Our country is strong because in times of peril we are not Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans first. Just like after hurricanes, we must have an all of government approach to confront and respond to this unprecedented public health and economic disaster.

Without your support for this proposal or others like it, our communities will struggle to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect our residents, and recover our economies. We implore you to work on a bipartisan basis to address the concerns outlined in this letter.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

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