Michael Bloomberg Will Give Millions to Mayors With Ideas to Sidestep Trump
In a move to empower state and local governments, the tenth richest person in the world is offering millions to U.S. mayors with policy proposals that address issues—mostly liberal—which are neglected in President Donald Trump’s plans.
Those issues include gun control, climate change, immigration, and public health, according to the New York Times.
Bloomberg’s offer, the Times reports, is part of a $ 200 million program called the American Cities Initiative that Bloomberg plans to announce Monday in a speech to the United States Conference of Mayors, in Miami Beach.
As part of the initiative, majors are asked to submit compelling city-level policy proposals. In return, the city leaders could win six- to seven-figure grants to run an experiment in their own cities.
In an interview with the Times. Bloomberg, the one-time mayor of New York City who seriously considered running for president in 2016, said that the initiative would be a way (in the Times’ wording) “to shore up the global influence of the United States despite turmoil in Washington.”
That comes after Bloomberg first made moves to help states and cities move independently of Trump’s Washington following the Paris Accord exit.
In early June, after Trump announced plans to leave the global climate agreement, Bloomberg helped back a coalition of cities, states and businesses who said they remained committed to the Paris Climate Accord. Bloomberg also offered to make up the $ 15 million the United Nations stands to lose from the U.S. pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Bloomberg, in a recent interview with ABC, said that Americans should “get behind” President Trump as he is the legally elected leader of the U.S. The businessman argued that Americans should look to the next elections instead of seeking a revolution.
“We should sit back and say, four years from now, how do I get my woman or man elected?”
Whether Bloomberg himself plans to run in 2020, though, is still unclear.
