Source: Kevin Maloney, CCM

For Immediate Release
Kevin Maloney, 203-710-3486
 
Leaders from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) will meet with Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Christopher Murphy on key federal-local issues impacting Connecticut towns and cities on Tuesday, March 15, in Washington, D.C. at noon at the U.S. Capitol.

The Connecticut leaders will conduct the meetings as part of their participation in the Congressional City Conference from March 14-16 in Washington, D.C., organized by the National League of Cities. 
 
Municipal leaders will be focused on key federal/local issues with Connecticut’s two Senators. These issues include: 

• Support for the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  In particular, urging them to oppose efforts that would rescind unallocated or unused ARP funds to fill budget gaps.
• Advocating for meaningful funding for workforce programs to leverage municipal projects financed by ARPA and infrastructure bill.  Many programs that were authorized in the infrastructure bill are constrained without dedicated funding in the budget.
• Supporting S.3011 that would provide additional flexibility under ARP for towns and cities.
• Repeal or expand the $10,000 state and local tax (SALT) cap.
• Advance critical programs found in the Build Back Better proposals, including those regarding workforce advancement, housing and water infrastructure.  

The meeting will be led by Luke Bronin, Mayor of Hartford and current CCM President, and Joe DeLong, CCM Executive Director and CEO. Other key officials at the meeting will be councilmembers from Bridgeport. – Aidee Nieves, Lydia Martinez, Scott Burns, Aikeem Boyd, Jorge Cruz, Rosalina Roman-Christy, Jeanette Herron, Michelle Lyons, Ernest Newton, and Matthew McCarthy; and from New Haven – Darryl Brackeen, Frank Douglass, Rosa Ferraro-Santana, Evette Hamilton, Honda Smith, and Brian Wingate.  
 
“Our delegation looks forward to a very productive meeting with our two esteemed U.S. Senators,”  DeLong emphasized. “They have a strong appreciation for the importance of American Rescue Plan funding, workforce development programs, the implications of the state and local tax cap and other key federal issues affecting Connecticut cities and towns in 2022.”   
 
The Connecticut officials in Washington D.C.  are all members of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), Connecticut’s statewide association of towns and cities. More than 3,000 municipal leaders from around the nation — mayors, first selectmen, council members, town/city managers, and other key local officials — will take part in the 2022 NLC conference.
 
The conference will include a wide range of cutting-edge, public policy and municipal-management workshops, as well as a series of seminars by NLC’s Leadership Training Institute; a resource center for assisting local officials in responding to the complex challenges of community leadership and an opportunity to learn from experts by join city leaders at intimate, intensive workshop sessions on topics ranging from economic development to funding opportunities.  
 
NLC will also adopt its 2022 Action Agenda at the conference as the basis for coordinated action by municipal leaders across the country.