Last week, Mayor Bryan K. Barnett and a bipartisan group of mayors went to the White House to meet with the President, Vice President, and leadership to discuss their economic and workforce development priorities.
Barnett is Vice President of the U.S Conference of Mayors (USCM) and was attending the group’s 87th Annual Winter Meeting in Washington, He, along with USCM President, Mayor Steve Benjamin from Columbia, SC, led a bi-partisan group of mayors for a meeting at the White House on Friday afternoon.

Mayor Bryan K. Barnett
As officers of the United States Conference of Mayors, Mayor Barnett and Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin shared their three overarching, bipartisan themes: Infrastructure, Innovation, and Inclusion.
“I am honored to join this small delegation of mayors from across the country to share our key priorities,” states Mayor Bryan K. Barnett. “I look forward to continuing to work with the Trump Administration, Congress as well as America’s mayors to improve the quality of life in America’s cities.
Following the discussion, Barnett and the mayoral delegation were invited to the Rose Garden for the press conference announcing that an agreement had been made to end the furlough affecting some 800,000 government employees. This announcement came just a few hours after the United States Conference of Mayors passed a resolution urging an end to the government shutdown.
Thankfully, for Michigan, this means that employees who work for federally-funded programs supporting food assistance, housing, the IRS, transportation, and other initiatives will get back to work – and paid – as soon as possible.
“Mayors understand that our residents expect we work together to find solutions to govern responsibly. I was pleased to be at the table as Washington moved to finally get our government working again” stated Barnett.