By: William Bornhoft
3/25/2020
DAKOTA COUNTY, MN — Rep. Angie Craig Wednesday sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urging for the inclusion of small and mid-sized communities in the Senate new coronavirus relief package, through the State Stabilization Fund.
This change would provide Second District cities and towns, many of which are in Dakota County, with direct assistance to local communities to cover revenue lost because of COVID-19.
As the legislation apparently is drafted, only two government units in Minnesota would be eligible to receive funding, neither of which is in the Second District, Craig said.
The current bill provides a population threshold of 500,000 for a government unit to be eligible for the dollars, according to a news release.
“The coronavirus is impacting all communities, and those impacts are being felt by our suburban cities, small towns and rural townships,” Craig stated.
“It is unacceptable to leave nearly the entire state of Minnesota and every community in the Second District out of relief funding. I strongly oppose these arbitrary population measures and urgently push House and Senate leadership to include small and mid-size communities.”
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer:
Thank you for your work to develop a comprehensive emergency package to address the COVID-19 pandemic. As legislative text is finalized, I write to ensure that small and mid-sized cities in Minnesota are eligible for aid through the bill’s State Stabilization Fund, which is intended to provide direct funding to states and local communities to cover revenue lost because of the coronavirus.
For example, the minimum population threshold of 500,000 defined in H.R. 6379, Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act for counties, municipalities and towns would only apply to two of Minnesota’s 87 counties (neither of which are in my District) and none of its cities or towns. As of my writing, it is unclear what population metric would be covered under the Senate agreement.
On behalf of the 2nd Congressional District’s local elected leaders, I urge you to ensure funding is equitably distributed to cities, towns and villages of all sizes, and not just America’s largest municipalities – so that we can all work together to help counteract the devastating economic effects brought on by the coronavirus.
Thank you for your kind consideration of this urgent request.