National League of Cities Responds to HEROES Act House Proposal

Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives introduced the HEROES Act, a proposal for the next set of economic funding and relief in the ongoing national COVID-19 response and recovery. The bill includes funds for our nation’s cities, towns and villages and for counties, with $375 billion allocated to local governments, which will help protect communities, essential workers and services such as fire, police, sanitation, public works, water, electric, and gas.

The following is a statement from Clarence Anthony, CEO and Executive Director, National League of Cities.

“The National League of Cities applauds the new House of Representatives’ legislative proposal, the HEROES Act, for recognizing that cities, towns, and villages nationwide need funding to help stabilize and restart local economies. Thank you to House leadership for working to ensure communities of all sizes receive funding for COVID-19 recovery and response.

Local governments are doing everything and more to keep essential workers on the job and residents ready for the reopening of our economy. As a result, local budgets are stretched thin and at the breaking point. Without assistance to local governments, there is a real possibility that cities, towns, and villages move from being part of the solution, to becoming a major obstacle to long-term economic stabilization and recovery. In fact, our research shows that the critical jobs of up to 1 million municipal workers could be at risk due to local budget constraints caused by the pandemic.

The $375 billion this bill allocates to local governments will protect the heroic essential workers who are keeping America’s communities on solid footing during and after this crisis, including our firefighters, sanitation workers and police officers. These services are critical to maintaining the quality of life residents and local businesses expect and need. Municipalities have a clear plan to use these funds to help jumpstart the nation’s economy, by keeping middle class workers employed and critical services operating.

NLC understands that this bill is an important first step toward a negotiation between our federal partners in the House and Senate. We stand ready to work on bicameral, bipartisan legislation that will provide funding to all cities, towns, and villages and a complete American economic recovery.” 

For more tools, resources and actions to take, visit the Cities Are Essential campaign page. For other recovery and response resources for local leaders, visit NLC’s COVID-19 Response website.