This past weekend, I had the honor of representing Los Angeles at the US Conference of Mayors. As gridlock continues to paralyze our federal government, it’s America’s mayors who are increasingly leading the charge to improve quality of life across this country. This conference served as an opportunity for mayors to establish common priorities so we can effectively coordinate our advocacy for America’s cities.

I’m pleased to announce that each of the five resolutions I proposed was adopted by the conference. Each of them was co-sponsored by dozens of mayors. They address critical issues such as transportation, goods movement, trade, employment, and immigration. These policy positions adopted at the Conference’s annual meeting collectively represent the views of the nation’s mayors and call upon the President of the United States and Congress to take specific action.

The resolutions are as follows:

  1. America Fast Forward Bond — Urges Congress to create a new category of qualified tax credit bonds to fund $45 billion over 10 years for transportation to stimulate infrastructure investment.
  2. Trade in the Americas — Calls on the Administration to pursue trade agreements that support America’s workers with additional US jobs by opening new markets for manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses in Europe and the Pacific Rim.
  3. Freight/Goods Movement — Urges Congress to pass a transportation reauthorization bill that increases investment in goods movement infrastructure by dedicating federal funding for a multimodal national freight system.
  4. Youth Summer Jobs — Urges Congress to restore its long term commitment for a strong summer jobs program.
  5. Citizenship — Urges the USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security to make policy changes that will increase the number of U.S. citizens from the pool of eligible, lawful, permanent residents and specifically calls on USCIS to reduce fees for citizenship applicants and to minimize barriers to naturalization by offering alternatives like a sliding-scale income based approach or family unit fee.