GFOA, in partnership with the International City/County Management Association, National Association of Counties, National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, National Association of State Treasurers, National League of Cities, and The United States Conference of Mayors, sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin and Chair of the Board of Governors, Jerome Powell advocating for additional unencumbered direct funding to plug budget shortfalls and projected losses in revenues resulting from slowed commerce.

Without timely and strong federal government efforts to support the municipal bond market and compensate for delayed revenues, our state and local governments will be forced to take actions that will exacerbate economic contraction and offset the vital stimulus that Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the Administration have worked to provide. Our consistent and overarching request from our federal legislators is for direct, unencumbered funding to ensure stability in this environment where revenues are falling drastically short. Our advocacy extends to support the municipal debt market, where state and local government access to credit will be further stressed at the most inopportune time. We urge the Administration to consider using the authority provided in Title IV of the CARES Act and existing powers under Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act to develop and refine facilities like those outlined above in order to counter the unprecedented impacts of current market uncertainty.

• Publication date: October 2020