GOP Mayors Say “The Need Is Real” While Senate Republicans Continue To Oppose Urgent Relief Plan

New reporting from USA Today highlights how despite Republican mayors from across the country calling for Congress to pass President Joe Biden and Democrats’ COVID-19 relief package, Senate Republicans remain steadfastly against the urgently needed aid. As Democrats move forward with the bill, fulfilling their promise of beating this pandemic and delivering economic support to the American people, Mitch McConnell and Republicans are gearing up to oppose and delay the critical legislation for the sake of political obstruction.

Here is what Republican mayors are saying about the urgently needed relief:

• Mayor Bryan Barnett in Rochester Hills, MI: “The need is real…This is about addressing the needs of a global pandemic that are really (for) the same constituents they serve in D.C. that we’re serving here at the local level.”

• Mayor John Giles in Mesa, AZ: “I’m just scratching my head trying to figure out why this would be a partisan issue…These aren’t bells and whistles we’re talking about, these are the essentials of life and the essentials of keeping families together and keeping them housed and fed.”

• Mayor David Holt in Oklahoma City, OK: “If it’s good for cities, and especially for Oklahoma City, I’m going to be supportive. The $350 billion for cities and states is a no-brainer to me, regardless of your political party.”

As the coronavirus death toll has surpassed more than half a million Americans in less than a year and millions of hardworking families remain in financial turmoil, Senate Republicans are still fighting against a plan for $1,400 direct relief checks, resources to ramp up vaccine distribution, funding to safely reopen schools, aid for state and local governments, emergency unemployment and small business assistance, and numerous other critical priorities for the American people. Even a majority of Republican voters support the legislation’s core provisions.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

USA Today: ‘The need is real’: GOP mayors embrace Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan even as Republican lawmakers pan it

Key Points:

• Barnett, the Republican mayor of Rochester Hills, Michigan, is also lobbying for approval of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill while Republicans in Congress remain in lockstep against the proposal.

• As Biden’s relief package heads for a vote Friday in the Democratic-controlled House – where it is expected to pass with perhaps no Republican support – cash-strained city halls are some of the legislation’s biggest boosters.

• “The need is real, and it’s not just in Democratic-core communities,” said Barnett, whose city, a suburb north of Detroit, narrowly voted for Biden in 2020 after years of supporting Republicans. 

• In all, 32 Republican mayors – from midsize cities such as Oklahoma City and Mesa, Arizona, to smaller ones like Carmel, Indiana, and Mooresville, North Carolina – are among 425 mayors nationally who urged passage of Biden’s COVID-19 relief package in a letter through the U.S. Conference of Mayors to Congress. Despite their efforts, no Republicans in the House or Senate have publicly supported the bill. 

• Barnett’s message to Republican critics: “Talk to some of the Republican mayors.” 

• “This isn’t because of some gross mismanagement or some bad contracts that were signed or historic deficits,” he said. “This is about addressing the needs of a global pandemic that are really (for) the same constituents they serve in D.C. that we’re serving here at the local level.”

• Mayors covet the $350 billion in direct aid Biden’s legislation, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, would pump into state and local governments and the $130 billion more for the reopening of public schools. A $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that passed in December, when Republicans controlled the Senate and occupied the White House, contained no financial aid for state and local governments.

• “I’m just scratching my head trying to figure out why this would be a partisan issue,” Giles said, “because what we’re talking about is COVID relief, which should be a nonpartisan issue.”

• “These aren’t bells and whistles we’re talking about,” he said. “These are the essentials of life and the essentials of keeping families together and keeping them housed and fed.”

• A Morning Consult poll this week found 76% of Americans support passage of the legislation, including 60% of Republican voters, 71% of independents and 89% of Democrats.

• “I’m a one-issue voter,” said David Holt, Republican mayor of Oklahoma City and a Trump critic. “If it’s good for cities, and especially for Oklahoma City, I’m going to be supportive. The $350 billion for cities and states is a no-brainer to me, regardless of your political party.”

• Barnett said the citizens of Rochester Hills aren’t interested in “the games being played in Washington” – they just want help for the city’s small businesses.

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