Valley mayors meet to discuss issues impacting South Texas

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The South Texas Alliance of Cities met Thursday in Harlingen, hosted by Mayor Norma Sepulveda.

Joining Sepulveda were six other Rio Grande Valley mayors and U.S. Representative Vicente Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was the only one who got up and spoke to the attendees. The Congressman tackled a wide range of issues in a comprehensive address.

However, the very first thing he brought up to the assembled group was how glad he was to see everyone working together, in stark contrast to what he has been seeing in Washington, D.C.

The majority of his remarks could best be described as a policy speech. He began his address by bringing up what he called the "big, bad bill." Highlighting what he believed would be the impact on health care in the region.

“Here in the RGV, we have about…more than one out of four households rely on Medicaid. If you’re not on Medicaid and you think, well, I have private insurance, I don’t think it affects me, well, it does. When you strip that much health care out of any community, about a trillion dollars nationally, what does it do? Businesses shutter their doors. Doctors leave. Specialty clinics can’t afford to keep their doors open, because they lose so much market share.”

Gonzalez said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed in July strips about $1 trillion out of the health care system nationally. He characterized it as a "really mean bill."

Sticking with the budget bill, Gonzalez said it was sold as talking about "no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, or no tax on Social Security, which is false." Gonzalez told attendees there was a tax deduction, "but your Social Security still gets taxed." He added that all three of those provisions expire in 2028, but the major tax breaks for billionaires and multi-national corporations are permanent.

"These are the largest, most wealthy people. We probably have one constituent in the RGV that qualifies," Gonzalez said in a not-so-veiled reference to Elon Musk.

Gonzalez then shifted his focus to immigration and border security, saying, "I'm happy to see that the border is under control. I was one of the most critical Democrats in the country on the Biden administration, because I thought the border was out of control. And it seems to be a pretty quiet place these days, and I think that we should all be happy for that. But at the same time, I don't agree with people with masks on their faces, in unmarked cars, nabbing people off the streets of America, the way we've seen recently."

Gonzalez said he'd like to see congressional action that provides a path for people to stay in the country if they've been in the U.S. for at least five years and haven't committed any other crimes. The Congressman said he was working on legislation to make it easier for employers to sponsor immigrant workers, allowing them to legally work in the country.

As for the Mayors in attendance, they said it's important for Valley cities to take a regional approach, particularly when it comes to dealing with the state and federal governments.

Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr. said, "It's provided us a great platform to really showcase South Texas and bring more dollars down here, bring more investment. And I think that's what each one of our communities wants, and expects from us, right?"

The South Texas Alliance of Cities also transferred the chairmanship of the organization after Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza's turn at the helm.

According to a release from the city of Harlingen announcing Thursday's meeting, the South Texas Alliance of Cities (STAC) is a regional coalition of mayors and city leaders from San Antonio through the Rio Grande Valley. Formed in 2023, the Alliance advocates for shared priorities, including economic development, infrastructure investment, workforce training, and regional competitiveness, with a population base of over 5 million.

Following Thursday's meeting at the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum, Harlingen officials gave the visiting mayors a tour before meeting with State Senator Adam Hinojosa and State Representatives Janie Lopez and Erin Gamez. Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda said the group would receive a legislative update on the recently completed regular and special sessions in Austin.