The Gazette: Mayor Quentin Hart: How Biden, Democrats are helping Iowans

WATERLOO MAYOR QUENTIN HART, CONTRIBUTOR, THE GAZETTE

This time last year, cities and towns across the country were making difficult decisions about where to allocate resources to keep our communities safe and running amid a worsening pandemic. I spoke frequently about how the failure by state and federal officials to listen to the needs of local leaders hobbled our state’s response — and why we needed new leadership in Washington to help get the pandemic under control.

Now, one year later, mayors like me have real partners in the White House. Since President Joe Biden took office, there has been a sea change in how the federal government has partnered with state and local authorities to provide relief to our communities — and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Signed into law just three months ago, the Biden-Harris administration’s American Rescue Plan is already providing critically-needed relief for Iowans across the state, with federal funding going directly to communities like mine in Waterloo. In listening to mayors, city councils, and other local leaders, President Biden and Democrats in Congress ensured the plan gave us the flexibility needed to spend the relief funds in the best way possible for our constituents.

Yet not a single Iowa Republican supported this historic recovery bill. In voting against the American Rescue Plan, Republicans such as 1st District Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against giving Iowa’s cities and towns $1.1 billion in funding to help keep families safe and businesses open. They voted against sending direct payments to 91 percent of adults in the state and 89 percent of our children. And they voted against expanding the child tax credit, which helped tens of thousands of Iowa families make ends meet and lift 25,000 children out of poverty.

Luckily for Iowans, Biden’s strategy to rebuild our economy from the bottom up and the middle out is working. Now, as cities and towns across the state use this much-needed federal funding to support local recovery efforts, Democrats are moving forward with new plans to build on the success of the American Rescue Plan — and once again the Biden-Harris administration is focused on investing in Iowa communities like Waterloo.

This is the moment to re-imagine a new economy that works for everyone, create millions of good jobs, and rebuild our country’s infrastructure — and the president’s American Jobs Plan does just that by providing Iowa’s cities and towns even more resources to help workers and families thrive.

Right now, there are 4,571 bridges and over 403 miles of highway in poor condition across our state. The American Jobs Plan will devote more than $600 billion to help us transform our nations' transportation infrastructure and make it more resilient, including $115 billion repairing roads and bridges.

More than 200,000 Iowa households lack access to reliable internet, making it harder for our kids and our businesses to succeed. Fortunately, Biden understands that broadband is essential infrastructure. That’s why the American Jobs Plan would invest $100 billion to bring universal, reliable, high-speed, and affordable coverage to every family in America.

What’s more, this plan invests billions of dollars in community-based programs that will make child care more affordable, deliver world-class health care to Iowa’s veterans, and even ensure that every community in the state has safe, clean drinking water.

Yet, Iowa Republican leaders remain steadfast in their opposition to the American Jobs Plan, despite its clear benefits for Iowa’s workers and families. If these so-called leaders truly cared about the people they’re supposed to represent, they’d stop playing politics with Iowans’ future.

With these transformational proposals, the Biden-Harris administration and the Democrats in Congress have prioritized reinvesting in what makes Iowa great: our communities.

President Biden is showing us a path to build our economy back better than ever — and it’s clear that we need Congress to pass the American Jobs Plan now. Let’s get to work.

Read the original Op-Ed here.