VP Meets Mayors in Hopes of Averting Fiscal Cliff

A couple of months ago, The United States Conference of Mayors, through a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 149 mayors across the country, called on Congress to reach a comprehensive bipartisan debt deal. Now, with the fiscal cliff in sight, a number of those mayors met Vice President Joe Biden today to deliberate ways the Administration and Congress can work together to reach a compromise.

Meeting with the White House today are:  

• Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, PA
• Scott Smith of Mesa, AZ
• Joseph P. Riley, Jr. of Charleston, SC
• Don Plusquellic of Akron, OH
• Michael Hancock of Denver, CO
• Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore, MD
• Stephen Benjamin of Columbia, SC
• Michael Bissonnette of Chicopee, MA
• Joseph McElveen of Sumter, SC
• Paul Soglin of Madison, WI
• R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, MN

These mayors have an crucial stake in the fiscal cliff debate - the sequester will hit discretionary spending programs hard with one-third of the cuts directed to state and local governments. These mayors know how challenging fiscal responsibility can be, with most required to run balanced budgets. We hope the conversation reflects the tone they took in their letter, to resolve our deficit problem in a thoughtful way.

Click here to read Politico's full report on the scheduled meeting.