WASHINGTON – The Municipal Bonds for America Coalition has stepped up its political activism this week with a campaign fundraiser for a key House Democrat and a Capitol Hill briefing for congressional staff.
The Tuesday fundraiser at a Capitol Hill row house is for Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Neal would become chairman of the tax-writing committee in the next Congress if he wins re-election to a 16th term and Democrats recapture majority control of the House.
A former mayor and city council member of Springfield, Mass., Neal is considered a strong supporter of the municipal bond market and private activity bonds.
Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, S.C. who is president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Municipal Bonds for America Coalition, said Neal recognizes that preserving the tax exemption for muni bonds is a “sacrosanct” part of federal tax policy.
“We do believe that Rep. Neal would be an able chairman if in fact the people of America decide that the House will go Democratic,” Benjamin said. “We look forward to working with him and also with our friends on both sides of the aisle.”
Benjamin said he has not directly asked Neal to hold a hearing next year on restoring advance refundings, but it’s one of his group’s top issues.
Justin Underwood, a spokesman for the bipartisan coalition, noted that it sponsored a campaign fundraiser for another muni bond supporter, Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois last year.
The briefing for congressional staff held Monday was the fifth annual class in Municipal Bonds 101 for congressional staff.
Only about 20 to 30 staffers out of the hundreds who work for members of the House were lured to attend by the offer of a free packaged lunch in a small shopping bag.
The panelists acknowledged that the topic probably sounds boring to Hill staffers, but they stressed its importance to financing local government and schools.
“Where is the municipal bond market? It’s everywhere,” said Patrick Luby, municipal strategist for CreditSights in New York, who said tax-advantaged bonds are used by airports around the country, for instance.
“Everyone wants you to invest in infrastructure. It’s probably the easiest sell you will make,” Mayor Benjamin told the small audience.
After his presentation, Benjamin said in an interview that briefings like Monday’s are part of a “constant process of educating and re-educating people.”
“There’s nothing exciting about bond financing unless you are a bond lawyer or a public finance attorney so that just a steady constant education and re-education of policymakers and their able staffs is what we are trying to do,” the mayor said. “If there is, in fact, bad policy being made in Washington D.C., it effects our common taxpayers and ratepayers adversely.”
John Godfrey, senior government relations representative for the American Public Power Association, said that educating congressional staff is a never ending job because of staff turnover.
“You’ll see us here every year forever,” he said. “The staff is constantly changing.”
