Local Officials to Congress: Pass the Stimulus Bill Now
Metro Chamber's Matt Mahood (CPR photo)
Sacramento-area officials joined President Obama in lobbying Congress to pass the economic stimulus bill yesterday.
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(Sacramento, CA)
Monday, February 9, 2009
At a street corner across from West Sacramento City Hall, there’s a sound that the Sacramento region isn’t hearing much these days. Construction projects under way here include a library, a community college campus, a transit center and a community center. And it’s here that local officials and community leaders gathered today to lobby for the federal stimulus bill.
Mahood: “We want an effective and efficient federal stimulus package, and we want to put people back to work.”
Matt Mahood with the Metro Chamber of Commerce says the six-county Sacramento region has projects worth billions of dollars that are ready to go. And West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon says those projects are already part of a long-term regional strategy.
Cabaldon: “We didn’t invent them just in the last 30 days to try to take advantage of a federal political process. We’ve been working on these projects in our region for years.”
The officials are also calling on Congress to send the infrastructure funds directly to local agencies – rather than through a state government frozen by the lack of a budget.