Vermont Bond Bank Joins Senator Welch for Bipartisan Roundtable on Extreme Weather Response, Supporting Disaster-Impacted Communities
At Senator Peter Welch’s invitation, the Vermont Bond Bank joined a bipartisan roundtable with thirteen U.S. senators to discuss the challenges Vermont communities face in responding to extreme weather.
“From brutal flooding in Vermont and Alaska to destructive wildfires in Utah, California, and Hawaii, extreme weather is wreaking havoc in communities across America—and it’s only getting worse,” said Senator Welch. “This roundtable made it crystal clear that Washington isn’t doing enough to support rural communities and constituents recovering from climate disasters. The Senate needs to take action to ensure that Americans in disaster-impacted communities—in red and blue states alike—can rebuild, recover, and withstand the rising impacts of climate change.”
The Bond Bank shared lessons learned from helping 27 towns recover from flooding through the Municipal Climate Recovery Fund since 2023. Discussion topics included the capacity and fiscal constraints rural communities and small cities face in recovery and mitigation. The Bond Bank advocated for flexible, low-cost funding sources that can help communities reduce the fiscal trade-offs of investing in resilience.
U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) hosted the bipartisan roundtable held on Capitol Hill that focused on the high costs of extreme weather and climate change, and how Washington can better help communities prepare for, mitigate, and recover from these disasters. Senators Welch, Curtis, Murkowski, and Schatz were joined by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
This event built on the Bond Bank's recently released Disaster Reserve Benchmarks. The full white paper and database are available at: https://www.vtbondbank.org/reservebenchmarks.
About the Vermont Bond Bank
Created in 1969 as the nation’s first state bond bank, the Bond Bank helps finance and implement crucial municipal infrastructure at lower costs to communities by providing access to more affordable capital.
The Bond Bank does this by overcoming gaps in information, scale, and credit to allow cities, towns, villages, school districts, and other forms of government to achieve equitable access to capital. This market specialization also helps with expertise in recognizing emerging needs like flood relief and managing federal requirements for faster and easier access to capital.
In addition to facilities and infrastructure lending, the Bond Bank also provides post disaster bridge loans and is the financial administrator of the State of Vermont Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Funds.
Contact: michael@vtbondbank.org
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