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9A Page 5 President Obama Proposes Expanded Funding for Infrastructure, Job Creation, Energy Efficiency Cities Urged to Contact Congressional Representatives to Push for Funding The White House Office of Public Engagement conducted a one-hour conference call on Tuesday, Dec. 8, to follow-up on President Obama's speech announcing proposals to accelerate job and economic growth. The president's broadly-defined proposals described three key priorities for targeted investment. These Included: . A series of steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff; . Additional investment in infrastructure; and . A new proposal to provide rebates for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient. Tuesday's conference call provided the opportunity for city officials and other interested stakeholders to ask questions about the proposals. White House staff emphasized throughout the call that specific proposals would be developed in consultation with Congress. and funded through legislation developed to address specific issues, as well as through amendments to related, pending bills. Some key points of importance to cities: . Funding for Local, State and Regional Agencies. Both the president and Speaker Pelosi are advocates of ensuring that additional funding is available for state, local and regional agencies. . Infrastructure. A larger funding pool for local infrastructure is apriority. White House staff said that the president is considering requesting as much as a $50 billion augmentation for infrastructure that helps to create jobs. including for the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program, education Infrastructure and other job-related infrastructure projects. . EmphasiS on Job-Creation and Energy Efficiency. While there may be announcements about other initiatives in the weeks ahead, the announcement today focused on a component of the president's economic recovery plans, which ties funding to projects that create green jobs, and advance the goal of achieving greater energy efficiency. . Help for Small Businesses. Tax credits for hiring new workers, or keeping workers on the payroll, are seen as measures that must deliver funding to cash-starved businesses as soon as possible - in 2010, not 2011. The president's announcement follows an analysis, which revealed that TARP (Toxic Asset Relief Program) is expected to cost the taxpayer at least $200 billion less than anticipated just this summer. The president believes that this provides a chance to pay down the deficit faster than was thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on "Main Street." Take Action Last week City Advocate Weekly ran a story on efforts to push for additional infrastructure funding following the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009. The funding has been Important but the amounts available for transportation and Infrastructure fell short. Additional funding Is needed for: . Transportation and other infrastructure; . Transit and transit oriented development; . Community Development Block Grants; 5