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view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? it is way more than that. comcast is partnering with 1000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled for -- from low ie families get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> the national league of cities is meeting this week in washington, d.c. for a federal conference. he does of the organizatio highe agenda and priorities for local government. topics included ai, railway safety, government funding and infrastructure investments in small and rural communities. this is 15 minutes.

■%>> morning and welcome to the national league of cities 2024 city conference. more than 3000 leaders from all over the ute advocate on behalf of their communities. this year's conference is especially exciting ca our 100th

anniversary. [applause] the voice for america's cities, towns, and villages. a few minutes ago we heard from president joe biden■dd;■? days,m and connect with a range of administration officials, in root transportation secretary buttigieg, education secretary, julie su and others and on wednesday more than 1000 mayors and city council members will go to capitol hill to make our voicesthese meetings will focusn making sure congress knows that the direct f funding provided to local government from the american rescue plan act, a bipartisan infrastructure law, the chip and science act ction act are making a big difference and that

is because local leaders know their communities best and they our meetings on capitol hill are also a focus of several tes, lin railway safety act. this will improve rail safety and better protect our level to keep their community safe every time a train derails. and it happens far too often in are three train derailments per day in the united states and to 64% of them occuwithin the jurisdiction of the city. in the senate, we are waiting for the bill to be brought to the floor for a vote and in the hous waiting for the transportation committee to va of communities large

and small in this country, the national league of cities calls on congress to act, passed the bipartisan bill. -- pass the bipartisan bill. [applause] my colleagues will touch on a number of priorities but i will touch on a couple. the ai advisory committee the rd ultimately harness the opportunity the rapidly evolving technology offers for our cities committee will produce a playbook that will assist our cities nationwide curated insight, strategy and best practices for cities to make good use of artificial intelligence. an advisory committee -- nikki lee. and we are very to announce that google is a

sponsor of the effort. thank you for your support. maybe it is just because i am a scientist, but that is something i really get excited about. and know can benefit our cities, towns, and villages meet -- immensely. i am pleased to mayor karen weston broome of baton rouge, louisiana. [applause] thank you mayor sanders. we have gathered here today in washington at a key moment. last week, congress passed the first bipartisan appropriations package, finalizing fiscal year 2024 funding levels for several important agencies and avoiding a partial government shutdown. we are thankful the leaders of both parties in congress came together on this, but the job is

not done. national league of cities calls on congressbipartisan approprias package ahead of the march 22 deadline and avoid a partial principle, we oppose -- we oppose federal government shutdowns. ■at the local level, a shutdown of municipal services would be unthinkable. when therederal level, local gos keep going, picking up the slack and often taking on additional expenditures to maintain federal function such as health and safety operations and national monuments. while not every act of the funding package is what we want, and i'll see a local leaders have been calling r budget services from the federal

government. we are now more than five months time to get this done. without knowing the federal government spending levels, local officials we can count on from the federal government as we formulate our city budget. our message is simple. pass the funding bill. keep government open. give local government the budgetary■? need. [applause] that said, i will now handed over to nlc second vice president from athens, ohio. [applause] >> thank you mayor weston broo patterson, mayor of athens, ohio and i am

nlcnlc played a major role in getting the bipartisan infrastructure law passed in ensuring the local government of all sizes have access to direct fug butnlc -- but the work is nt done after the law is passed. knowing most all communities and bedside -- midsizetowns and vilt have full-time grant writers. s of boot camps designed to help small cities like mine put together competitive applications for federaland they are absolutely g

and my city is proof of i[appla] as isypg everything home from nlc that i have learned, we participated in one of theud to report that the city of athens and several communities in southern ohio received $12.5 million to build new electric vehicle charging statis r athens all the way to dayton, ohio. [applause] this funding will ve a impact os and by filling critical gaps in my community is not alone. to date, 33 cities have

participated in the boot camps and have been awarded $83 million. [applause] and it does not end there because more is expected soon. so i want to thank congress, i cent to thank president biden for enacting the bipartisan infrastructure law, and i want to thank nlc and the local infrastructure hub for ensuring that cities like mine have access to game changing infrastructure funding. ■and to all my fellow mayors hee at the conference, i want to encourage you all to take advantage and check this free boot camps. a free. [laughter] if you visit the local infrastructure/cu? hub booth het the conference, you can register your city and take advantage of

the hubs today. with that, it pleasure to hand things over to nlc past president and my dear mayor victoria woodward of tacoma, washington. [applause] >> patterson. as he told you, i am the proud mayor of tacoma, washington, but moretantly -- more probably the past president of nlc. it patterson just talked about many of the wonderful aspects of the bipartisan infrastructure law and i will discuss another, the affordable conductivity program. the amram has provided more than 22 million low income households with a monthly $30 discount onome broadband service, making a huge difference in the lives of our

residents on the economic vitality of our communities. but without congressional action, this program will run out of funding next month. abruptly cutting off broadband service for millions of families , and an especially bad time for students wrapping up the schoole pandemic how important conductivity is to all families. the nlc calls on congress to pass the bipartisan affordable conductivity program extension act and to keep households connected well congress determines the long-term future of the program. what we know about the program is that it works. families no longer have to drive to a parking lot to connect to school, trying to connect to the wi-fi.

it truly gives families the opportunity for kids to be able to do homework at home and for families to be able to work from home in this new environment. with that, i am going to turn it over to the best executive director in the universe, none other then the national league of cities mr. clarence anthony. [applause] >> good morning. are you ready for over 3000 municipal officials throughout america? ause the cities are in town. the administration needs to know the cities are in town. vcongress, we are going to be on the hill on wednesday, talking about the need of cities, towns,

ng to make sure that all the issues we spoke of in this press conference, that you hear about, because they are imrtnot just for the national le of cities, but for our residents. that is why for 100 years to 20l league of cities has had an impact on our great nation. and guess what? the next hundred years, we will continue to have a great impact on our nation. we came from all over america. louisiana, washington state, california, georgia, iowa, maryland, texas, icu well here. -- i see you here. and i want to thank you all again because nlc is in

washington, d.c. and cities and all over america are here today as well. with that, the only thing i was supposed to do here was sayare there any questions from the press? but there is no way that the joy of us being here, we were not going to express that. so today, any members of the press have any questions? excellent. all right.don't■w thank you all so much and please enjoy the deepo