Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland was one of a group of mayors to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington Wednesday, according to the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI).
Strickland was among a group of mayors from up and down the Mississippi River to discuss a pending infrastructure plan for cities in the Mississippi River Valley.
In March, the group called for a nearly $8 billion government investment plan “to manage and protect the critical water resources” along the river. Congress has worked with the group to incorporate parts the plan into funding bills, said Mayor Lionel Johnson of St. Gabriel, La.
The MRCTI mayors were to hear Trump’s new plan for river spending during the White House meeting Wednesday.
“I’ll be looking for three things when we hear the plan – does it include natural infrastructure to keep our source water clean, does it provide critical resources to the Army Corps of Engineers for our navigation infrastructure, and how is it all funded,” Mayor Frank Klipsch of Davenport, Iowa said before the meeting. “If the plan is to cut spending on other critical domestic programs that we need, then I’m not sure that is a secure approach.”
Other mayors in the meeting included, Roy Buol of Dubuque, Iowa and Sharon Weston Broome of Baton Rouge, La.
“President Trump won America’s heartland by promising to rebuild our communities and infrastructure, and now he’s in a position to deliver on that promise,” Mayor Belinda C. Constant of Gretna, La. said when the group announced its spending plan back in March.
That plan largely called for the full funding of existing programs run by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
