U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has joined a group of other Senate Democrats in proposing a coronavirus relief fund for local governments, to be split evenly between cities and towns on the one hand and counties on the other.

“We cannot allow massive cuts to critical services in counties, small towns and cities across the country if we want to protect public health and address the economic challenges we face,” said Bennet. Aid to states and localities has run into residence from Senate Republicans, with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggesting that governments use the bankruptcy code to address fiscal difficulties. His position attracted condemnation from Democrats, including a group of mostly freshman representatives earlier this week.

The principles of the legislation would include letting local governments use the money to offset lost revenues from the economic decline and to forestall cuts to services. The majority of the funding would travel to recipients through the Community Development Block Grant program, while the remainder would go to states for allocation based on the populations of local jurisdictions.

Colorado Counties, Inc. and the Colorado Municipal League are among the organizations supporting the blueprint. “CML and our 270 member cities and towns are united in support for stabilization to ensure that critical services can continue to be delivered,” said the league’s executive director, Kevin Bommer.