Official Publication of the National League of Cities OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES
NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY
Volume 34, Number 15 | April 18, 2011
IN THIS ISSUE
www.nlc.org
PAGE 3
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White House Unveils Intergovernmental
Approach to Preparedness
PAGE 4
House Passes EPA Greenhouse Gas Bill,
Amendments Fail in Senate
PAGE 4
WIMG to Focus on Revenues, Cost
Savings at Conference
NLC Launches Updated, Expanded Website
by Amy Elsbree
Today, NLC is unveiling
a new website at www.nlc.org
designed to better connect city
leaders with the information
and programs needed to address
their cities’ challenges.
The new NLC website at www.nlc.org features an updated design and expanded resources and information.
Find City Solutions and Build
Skills and Networks. Visitors to
the site can also use the homep-
age to connect to the NLC
Member Center and to news for
and about cities through NLC’s
main news vehicles, including
the Press Room, Nation’s Cities
Weekly and NLC’s official
video network, NLC TV.
The Influence Federal Policy
section of the site offers expand-
ed background information
on key federal issues including
an extended set of resources to
help support the efforts to pre-
serve Community Development
Block Grant funding for cities, a
priority issue for NLC. Visitors
can also read biweekly updates
providing timely information
about federal legislative, regu-
latory and legal developments
impacting local governments.
see page 7, column 1
Congress Passes Fiscal Year 2011 Budget
That Slashes Funding for Local Programs
CDBG Cut By $600 Million
by Carolyn Coleman
Newspaper Handling
After weeks of partisan bickering
and a near government shutdown, the
House and Senate passed a fiscal year
2011 spending bill with the largest
cuts in domestic discretionary spend-
ing in history. The compromise bill,
H.R. 1473, which House and Senate
leadership and the White House agreed
to shortly before a midnight dead-
line last week, slashed nearly $40 bil-
lion from federal programs, including
the Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) program.
Throughout the negotiation process,
cities and towns fought hard to preserve
funding for the CDBG program, one
of the most effective federal programs
that serves as a catalyst for economic
recovery and job creation in communi-
ties of all sizes. Under the agreement,
CDBG would be funded at $3.3 bil-
lion or $600 million less than in fiscal
year 2010, but $1.8 billion more than
the program would have received in an
earlier House-passed measure, H.R. 1.
In response to the vote, NLC
Executive Director Donald J. Borut,
said, “While we are grateful that the
House and Senate agreed to fund
CDBG and other programs important
to cities and towns at higher levels than
in H.R. 1, cuts to these programs of
any amount will mean that cities will
be forced to cut programs and services
at the local level, which will very likely
lead to layoffs and a drag on economic
recovery in our communities.”
In addition to cuts to CDBG, the
HOME program loses nearly $200
million in funding, but the Choice
Neighborhoods and Sustainable
see page 7, column 1
