Phillips goes to D.C. to press for federal dollars, climate action for King County

February 3, 2009

Summary

Phillips to discuss King County’s economic, transportation, housing, and environmental priorities with Obama administration, congressional leaders

Story

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Phillips departed for the “other Washington” today to fight for King County’s share of federal stimulus dollars and make the case for empowering local governments on climate action. Phillips will spend the next four days meeting with Washington State’s congressional delegation and attending the Climate Communities conference where he will meet face-to-face with representatives from the Obama administration and key congressional leaders.

“Channeling federal funding into King County’s economy is critical at this time for giving our working families and local businesses the boost they need to get back on track,” said Phillips. “This is an opportunity to make needed transportation, housing, health, public safety, and water quality investments that will improve our communities and make King County a more prosperous place to live and do business during these tough economic times.”

While meeting with each member of Washington’s congressional delegation, Phillips will emphasize King County’s federal legislative agenda, which the King County Council adopted in January. Federal requests include:

• Transportation – Funding to expand the Metro Transit hybrid bus fleet, purchase passenger-only ferries for operation by the Marine Division, and replace the aging South Park Bridge.

• Health care reform – Securing $350,000 in the Department of Health and Human Service’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Appropriation for the Puget Sound Health Alliance, for development of a health information database to measure and share quality-of-care information across employers and health plans in the Puget Sound region.

• Salmon recovery – Funding for the Duwamish/Green Ecosystem Restoration Program and the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, and $90 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Program, which is critical to habitat recovery projects in King County.

Phillips is the national co-chair of Climate Communities, an advocacy group comprised of some of the nation’s top local government leaders on climate change. In Washington, D.C. this week, he will be leading local officials from around the country in their effort to make the case to the Obama administration and congressional leaders for the investment of federal resources in local climate action. In December, Climate Communities released a climate action plan entitled “Empowering Local Government Climate Action: Blueprint for President Obama and 111th Congress."

“We must act now to address the climate crisis, and we must ensure those actions bring jobs and resources to King County,” said Phillips, “By making the case for local involvement in federal climate actions, we can use this challenge as an opportunity to bring green jobs to our community and provide effective local leadership on climate initiatives.”