Mayor David Rollins, Augusta Mayor Bill Doyle, Saco Mayor Alan Casavant, Biddeford Mayor Anne-Marie Mastraccio, Sanford Mayor Mark Cayer, Lewiston Mayor Misha Pride, South Portland Mayor Kate Snyder, Portland Mayor Michael Foley, Westbrook Mayor Ed Glaser, Rockland

July 13, 2021

Senator Susan Collins Senator Angus King 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building 133 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree Congressman Jared Golden 2162 Rayburn House Office Building 1222 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Collins, Senator King, Congresswoman Pingree, and Congressman Golden:

We are writing to express our support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. This Framework is the largest investment in our infrastructure in a century with key investments in clean transportation infrastructure, clean water infrastructure, universal broadband infrastructure, clean power infrastructure, and resilience to the changing climate.

The Mayors' Coalition is a nonpartisan group formed in 2012, and currently includes the Mayors of nine Maine communities - Augusta, Biddeford, Lewiston, Portland, Rockland, Saco, Sanford, South Portland, and Westbrook – with a combined population of nearly 250,000. The Coalition advocates for state and federal policies that recognize the important role that Maine cities play in providing vital services to Maine people across our state, and the positive impact Maine cities have on the economic strength of our state. The Coalition seeks to work in partnership with Maine’s state and federal elected officials to meet the needs of Maine people.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework proposes investments in line with some of the Mayors’ Coalition’s top priorities, including:

1. Climate Change mitigation and adaptation efforts. We support polices and funding that will move Maine away from fossil fuels and toward electrification, energy efficiency, adaptation, and sustainability

2. Broadband infrastructure and affordability. The lack of access to high-speed broadband negatively impacts Maine people in our cities as well as the rest of Maine in numerous ways from remote learning, to access to health care via telehealth, to economic development and remote work opportunities. We support increasing funding to ensure that broadband is universally available and affordable. 3. Municipal Infrastructure including transportation and utility infrastructure. Maine cities rely on local property tax to support capital investments, so municipal infrastructure has degraded and is in need of immediate repair in many places. We also have limited our ability to build infrastructure, especially transformational investments in transit and utilities. Our buildings, utilities, and transportation systems cannot wait much longer, so we support these needed investments in critical infrastructure.

We appreciate all of your efforts to ensure that necessary investments are made to our infrastructure to help the people of Maine and our country prosper.

Sincerely,

Mayor David Rollins Mayor Bill Doyle City of Augusta City of Saco

Mayor Alan Casavant Mayor Anne-Marie Mastraccio City of Biddeford City of Sanford

Mayor Mark Cayer Mayor Misha Pride City of Lewiston City of South Portland

Mayor Kate Snyder Mayor Michael Foley City of Portland City of Westbrook

Mayor Ed Glaser City of Rockland