WASHINGTON — With hundreds of billions of dollars in federal grants up for grabs under the infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed this month, mayors from Sacramento to Miami-Dade are anxiously seeking face time with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor who could green-light their pet projects.
The competition started months before the infrastructure bill even passed, but now it’s kicked into high gear, with city leaders crafting ambitious plans in hopes of securing a windfall of federal funds.
“I think you have a bit of a scramble right now among mayors and leaders around metro areas around the country to make sure that not just our priorities but our faces are in front of folks,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told McClatchy.
Lucas, a Biden ally, was among the 50 mayors at the White House when the president signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law, marking his second trip to Washington in two weeks.
Days before the House passed the legislation, Lucas met with senior officials at the Transportation Department pitching them on Kansas City’s priorities. Lucas said some constituents have complained about the frequency of his trips to Washington, but he argued the in-person interactions are essential for presenting the city’s agenda.
“It is going to be a question of what city is putting its best foot forward to show that they’re doing something different, and they’re doing something special that’s worth attention and ultimately worth money,” Lucas said.
The new infrastructure law steers $660 billion to the Transportation Department, including more than $200 billion in discretionary funding that will be doled out as competitive federal grants over the next five years.
That funding includes money for the establishment of new grant programs and significant increases for existing grant programs, which presents a unique opportunity for local governments to pay for significant projects if they’re able to persuade Buttigieg’s department to fund them.
Buttigieg, who served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020, alluded to the opportunities for local officials last week at an event with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
“The job of mayor I continue to agree is the most important and difficult and demanding in government. It’s only gotten more so since I left my time as mayor, although I will say it would have been nice when I was mayor to have this big of an infrastructure fund coming my way,” Buttigieg said.
City leaders around the country are enthusiastic about the potential projects that could see federal dollars in the next five years under the law.
“All of this money — and what will be our share of it — can be transformational,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who plans to meet with Buttigieg during a trip to Washington in January.
Steinberg said he hopes the new law will enable Sacramento to connect its regional system to the city’s airport, a long-gestating proposal, and take bold steps toward carbon neutrality, a key consideration for the programs that will gain approval.
Mayors are seeking to lean on the relationships they forged with Buttigieg through the U.S. Conference of Mayors during his tenure in South Bend and during his 2020 presidential run, when he racked up endorsements from fellow mayors.
“He’s got a lot more people who are his friends now, or best friends,” joked Lucas, who first met Buttigieg in 2019 but stayed neutral in the presidential primary.
Miami-Dade mayor seeks meeting with Buttigieg
The charm offensive by local government officials started long before the infrastructure legislation arrived on Biden’s desk.
Texts obtained by the Miami Herald through an open records request show Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s urgent desire to connect with Buttigieg in March and April during Biden’s initial infrastructure push.
Connected through her campaign manager, who had raised money for Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, Levine Cava apparently missed a late call from the secretary on March 31, texting him shortly before 9 p.m., “so sorry I missed your call. I am up late, and early, so anytime!” Buttigieg did not respond.
Days later, Levine Cava sent a photo of her posing with Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones, an early Buttigieg primary supporter. Buttigieg wrote back with an exclamation point on April 6. “You’re in good company!”
Levine Cava then said, “May I see you in DC 4/23 or 4/26?” but Buttigieg did not respond.
Levine Cava finally connected with Buttigieg at the infrastructure bill signing this month at the White House.
“I got up from my seat and went over and said hello,” Levine Cava told the Miami Herald. “He did seem to know who I was.”
Miami-Dade’s plan to expand public transit on major commuting routes relies on securing federal funds. “It’s just critically important,” Levine Cava said. “These projects are phenomenally expensive. We have to have federal money.”
Buttigieg has repeatedly promised a thorough vetting of the flood of grant proposals that will soon be headed to his department, but he’s also stoked anticipation of the federal dollars that will flow to communities.
“We did it. We passed and signed the greatest infrastructure investment in my lifetime. Now the real work begins,” Buttigieg said on Twitter after Biden signed the bill. “What transportation projects are you hoping to see in your community?”
Replacing local bridges with federal dollars
The infrastructure law establishes a new $40 billion Bridge Investment Program, which could be critical for local governments in California, where roughly half of the state’s bridges are managed at the local level.
“Local bridges in California range from a one lane bridge in a creek in the mountains to the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Chris Lee, legislative representative for the California State Association of Counties.
More than 450 of those local bridges need to be replaced and more than 4,400 need repairs, Lee said, noting that many of the aging bridges were built in the 1950s and 1970s.
“We’re getting a silver tsunami of bridges, you might say, where we’re going to have to replace these things,” Lee said.
Communities in the Midwest will also be jockeying for bridge funding. Kansas Secretary of Transportation Julie Lorenz said the 10-state Mid American Association of State Transportation Officials is weighing the possibility of a joint grant application to improve or replace bridges in the Midwest.
Lorenz said that regional cooperation would be key to ensuring effective use of the federal money.
“We have to take a systems view because people and freight don’t stop at a city, a county, a state,” said Lorenz.
“In Kansas, cities and counties are eager and more than willing on that partnership aspect,” she added. “I can’t speak to other cities in other states, but I can tell you in Kansas we’re all rowing in the same direction.”
Buttigieg told reporters this month that the decisions on grants would be based on priorities of safety, climate, equity and the economy, assuring that smaller towns would share in benefits alongside major cities.
“That really does require us to be acting in communities that are large and small alike and that’s something that I’ll be looking at personally and certainly pressing our team to work on,” said Buttigieg, whose hometown of South Bend has a population of roughly 100,000.