WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke by phone with Illinois mayors from cities on the coast of the Mississippi River about the Heroes Act and its provisions to support local governments in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact. With Illinois expecting to lose more than $10 billion in revenue by next summer, Durbin spoke about the $1 trillion in fiscal relief funding for states and localities that the Heroes Act wouldprovide to replace lost revenues. The Republican proposal offers no additional assistance for state and local governments.
As more flooding along the Mississippi River is expected this year, Durbin heard the mayors’ concerns about disaster aid to address the flooding and spoke about the additional $1.3 billion the Heroes Act would provide to FEMA. This additional COVID-19 funding would provide FEMA with a greater capacity to respond to all disaster declarations and assist emergency responders, food banks, and shelters with disaster response.
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“Local governments are on the front lines of this pandemic and are struggling to keep their municipalities and government services afloat because of the tremendous loss of revenue over the last few months,” said Durbin. “We must listen to local leaders and offer a helping hand to provide some semblance of relief for our cities. While the Republicans chose to cut state and local governments out of their COVID-19 response bill, I’ll continue to fight for the key provisions in the Heroes Act that will help our state and local governments weather this storm.”
Illinois mayors participating in the call included:
- Mayor Walker, Alton
- Mayor Eberlin, Grafton
- Mayor Lain, Savanna
- Mayor Thoms, Rock Island
- Mayor Eastern, East St. Louis
- Mayor Hickerson, Hartford
- Mayor Acri, Moline
- Mayor Hamm, Madison
- Mayor McCormick, Godfrey
- Mayor Page, Chester
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