recent hate crimes against asian americans and pacific islanders. mayors from around the u.s. and white house officials discussed ways to respond to and prevent these types of crimes. we have all been very appalled by the increase in violence and hate crimes directed at asian americans and specific civic islanders over the last year. these acts have no place in our cities or our nation and the united states conference of mayors has always urged mayors to speak out on all hate crimes whenever and wherever they occur and we have urged our police department to report all hate crimes to the fbi and hate crimes is nothing new and we had a famous mayor of san jose who was interned along with 27000 under the direction of president franklin roosevelt and incarcerations of over 120,000 people and we had a current past president who has referred to the virus as the conch flu which has not helped either. throughout this i have had discussions with the mayor and i had several conversat
good morning everyone. i want to thank you for joining us. i am mayor nan whaley and present the u.s. conference of mayors but i want to thank her for an sent the national league of cities in the national association of counties for their sheer dedication to this issue on badly needed federal assistance as we continue to fight the covid-19 pandemic. a quick note for members of the chess press joining us today we will take questions after brief opening remarks. if you have a question please put your name in media outlet in the chat and we will call on you. i m keeping this brief and to the point. local leaders have been sounding at definite alarm for months about the need for direct fiscal assistance from washington as the virus rages in our city. our budgets are under extreme stress. arts fences are skyrocketing. our essential lifesaving services are strained. the need for public assistance is through the roof. this has been going on since the beginning of the pandemic si
community to implement local solutions to the many climate challenges we have. we also recognize to address this challenge, we need a constructive federal partner and thank god we have got one now. these are difficult times and we need additional resources. the conference of mayors worked hard to establish the energy efficiency and confirmation conservation block program to help jump start over 1000 climate change initiatives that produce both short and long-term impacts. we need to expand on these initiatives to meet these goals we have all set and we threw so urgently need to meet. we recognize that addressing climate change will save our environment and provide good paying jobs, it will boost our economy, and we human beings must be humble. we often act as if we are separate and apart from nature and in fact we are nature, we are interdependent part of the picture of the environment. i am pleased that president biden shares our vision and is committed to making climate
republicans, democrats and independents from cities of all sizes calling on congress to pass the plan immediately so the president can sign the bill into law and provide state and local governments with the funds and flexibility necessary for us to continue providing the services to the american people. we are joined by two senior white house officials who will play key roles in filling the partnership with the biden administration. first, julie rodriguez chavez, director of the white house office of intergovernmental affairs. you have been fantastic with us. the team worked with the transition. thank you again for helping us so much. thank you. brian deese, director of the national economic council. welcome to you both and thank you for making this time. it has been a little bit busy for you this week. we are happy to be aligned with president biden and understand the urgency facing states and local governments. he expressed that clearly after we met with him after the elect
special presidential envoy on climate john kerry and white house national climate advisor gina mccarthy discuss the future of climate change at the u.s. conference of mayors winter meeting. they talk to u.s. governors and mayors about the biden administration climate change policy. welcome. this is a critical conversation we re having this afternoon so i would like to welcome our members, our staff, the media and c-span as well for broadcasting is here today. as the mayors of a quick long recognized that immense impact climate change is that of the people of our cities and our environment. i m really proud of america s mayors because we stepped up and always stepped up in a bipartisan manner and joint partners in the business community up with local solutions to the many climate challenges we have. but we also recognize to address this local national challenge we need a constructive battle partner, thank god we ve got one now because of difficult times and we need additio