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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh met Thursday with members of the Maryland delegation on Capitol Hill to discuss the impact President Trump’s proposed budget cuts would have on her city.
Flanked by both of Maryland’s U.S. senators and the House members who represent Baltimore, Hugh said that she and the lawmakers talked about the city’s infrastructure, the police consent degree, education, transportation and health.
“We are excited about the work that we are doing in Baltimore but we can’t do it without you all,” Pugh said after the meeting. “We put housing at the top of the list because we know we have communities that have been neglected for decades.”
As she prepared to return to Baltimore, Pugh said that it was important to come to Congress because “we need federal dollars to do the things that we want to do.”
“The renovation of properties that have been neglected, we need that money,” she said. “Transportation dollars so people can get to work, we need that, and the reform of our police department and the reform of our infrastructure of our city, those dollars are very important.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in an interview that he is willing to work with President Trump on things such as passing an affordable prescription drug bill.
“I want to work with him on things like prescription drugs — things like that are important to my constituents,” Cummings said.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that he is also concerned about the effect that the proposed Trump cuts will have on citizens across the state in terms of projects such as Maryland’s Purple Line light-rail plan.
“The Trump budget would be bad for the Purple Line, because if you read the budget carefully, it would pull the plug on that plan,” he said.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said the budget that Trump submitted is “dead on arrival.”
“We are not going to pass that budget,” Cardin said. “We the people … Americans are speaking out more and more, the courts are blocking the immigration bill.”