Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway was joined by local and political leaders today for a press conference to tout the achievements of the Biden administration.
Held outside the offices of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on the capitol square, much of the press conference was spent praising the Biden Administration. Rhodes-Conway says that the city has directly benefited from the actions of the Biden Administration.
“Tonight, we will hear from our President about how the Biden-Harris Administration has been working to cut costs for working families in Madison, in Dane County, across the state, and across the country. They’ve been working to deliver a once-in-a-generation investment in our infrastructure. As mayor of Madison, I’ve been able to experience this impact first hand, as we’ve worked to distribute critical funds and make progress on the most critical issues that we’re facing here in Madison,” Rhodes-Conway says.
The American Rescue Plan was enacted by the Biden Administration last year to provide financial relief to communities across the country as the pandemic shuttered businesses. Dane County Supervisor Anthony Gray says that the legislation has already had a direct impact on the Madison community.
“Just last week, we were excited to learn that Dane County is getting $14.8 million from the American Rescue Plan. It’s going to be distributed to projects that are going to make generational change, projects like (The) Center for Black Excellence and Culture. That is a gamechanger in the African-American community. That is going to make substantive difference not just for my children, but for their children as well,” Gray says.
Several city resolutions to use the money from the American Rescue Plan are also in the works, including one to be voted on later tonight. Here’s Mayor Rhodes-Conway.
“Here in Madison, the American Rescue Act has had a tremendous influence already. Just from our allocation alone, we’re helping to connect families to basic services that they have needed during the pandemic. We’re working to support our undocumented community, and I expected the Common Council to vote (to approve) $700,000 in support for our undocumented community tonight,” Rhodes-Conway says.
That resolution will provide $700,000 to community-based organizations to support undocumented people in Madison. These groups potentially include Freedom Inc, the Rise Law Center, and Centro Hispano, though a final decision on who would receive the money has not yet been decided. According to census information in 2019, there are around 70,000 undocumented people living in Wisconsin.
The press conference was also an opportunity for leaders to look forward. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler says that he sees many problems Wisconsin residents have to face in the next year.
“Everyone wants the same basic thing, whether you’re white, Black, or brown, or you live in a rural area, a suburb, or in the heart of Madison. We all want great schools to send our kids to, we all want clean water and clean air, and we want family supporting jobs and a cost of living that people can deal with,” Wikler says.
President Biden’s State of the Union address starts tonight at 8PM.
Photo courtesy: Nate Wegehaupt / WORT News Team
