Fiscal Cliff Could Cripple American Cities

Alex Rogers delivers the pleas of the nation's mayors, who met last week with Vice President Joe Biden and Congressional leaders to explain the disastrous short and long term impacts that looming federal budget cuts could have on America's cities if Congress cannot reach a deal to stave them off. Due to the economic impact that cities provide the entire country - they provide 86 percent of the nation's jobs and account for 90 percent of its GDP - those impacts would touch every corner of the United States.

"R.T. Rybak, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, says Congress doesn’t recognize the local impact of sequestration. In Minneapolis, the process will result in cuts to crucial social programs like domestic-abuse prevention and immunizations for children, Rybak says — which, in turn, will lead to higher costs for police and hospitals."

Most pressing, however, may be the impact of cuts to HUD programs. According to Bruce Katz, the director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, "the most immediate priority will be navigating a looming $325 million cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public-housing fund. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that more than 140,000 families, including those that are elderly and disabled, would have difficulty maintaining their homes after the sequester."