; Whereas the National League of Cities has championed the passage of foundational Federal legislation and bolstered the supportive efforts of Congress to strengthen the essential services that municipalities provide to their communities such as the following: (1) In 1965, the National League of Cities President Mayor Henry Maier of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, spoke at the National League of Cities’ First National Legislative Conference and called on the Federal Government to create a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Later that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson consolidated five existing independent Federal housing and community development agencies into HUD. (2) In February 1972, on behalf of the National League of Cities, Mayor Thomas Bliley of Richmond, Virginia, testified to the Senate’s Committee on Public Works, Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, supporting the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970. One key element of the Act is the congressional finding “that the prevention and control of air pollution at its source is the primary responsibility of States and local governments.”. (3) Since the creation of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in the 1974 Housing and Community Development Act, CDBG grants have extended HUD’s reach beyond the urban core to cities, towns, and villages of all sizes, becoming an irreplaceable tool in projects advancing rehabilitation of affordable housing, the construction of vital public facilities, and the expansion of business and employment opportunities. (4) In 1991, the National League of Cities made unfunded mandates a key issue, putting it in the preamble of the organization’s National Municipal Policy. The National Municipal Policy stated that “Federal mandates that impose direct costs must be accompanied by adequate Federal funding”. During the 1990s, the National League of Cities took the case of unfunded mandates to Congress, testifying three times before Congress on the importance of not imposing unfunded mandates on cities, towns,