New Caucus Aims to Bring Main Street Priorities to Capitol Hill
Eighteen members of Congress on Wednesday announced the formation of a new Congressional Caucus whose intent is to ensure that the priorities and concerns of cities and counties across America are heard on Capitol Hill.
The bipartisan Congressional Caucus of Former Local Elected Officials was formed in coordination with the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities.
Its first goal is to leverage the member’s prior service in local government to improve our nation’s intergovernmental partnership, provide up-to-date information about mutual policy interests to Members of Congress and their staffs and ensure the local government voice is heard in federal decision-making.
The caucus is co-chaired by Reps Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., David Joyce, R-Ohio, Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., and Kay Granger, R-Texas.
“As former local elected officials, we intimately understand the power cities and counties have to make meaningful change and improve people’s lives,” said Stanton, the former mayor of Phoeniz, Ariz.
“Local leaders need strong partners in the federal government — and when we work together, we can deliver results faster and better serve the needs of our communities,” he said.
Rep. Granger, the former mayor of Ft. Worth, Texas, ageed, noting that more than 200 million people live in America’s incorporated communities with local leadership.
“This new caucus will focus on the issues that matter most to those hometowns, from the ongoing recovery from the pandemic to longstanding issues like broadband access, workforce development and rebuilding our infrastructure” she said.
Both Connolly, a former chairman of the Fairfax County, Va. Board of Supervisors, and Joycem a former prosecuting attorney in Geauga County, Ohio, said the new caucus has been been formed at a critical time — jsut as counties, cities, towns and villages are begining to recover fro mthe COVID-19 pandemic.
The other members of the new caucus are Reps. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., Nanette Diaz Barragan, D-Calif., Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Jerry Carl, R-Ala., Buddy Carter, R-Ga., Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Grace F. Napolitano, D-Calif., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Benie Thompson, D-Miss.
Full video of the caucus announcement is available HERE.
