A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and congressmen is urging the federal government not to approve recommendations to remove 144 cities from the designation of metropolitan statistical areas.
Reclassifying them as โmicropolitanโ would put key federal funding at risk, they said.
Doing so would reclassify more than a third of the current 392 metro areas as micropolitan statistical areas.
In a separate letter to the Office of Management and Budget, Hoeven said the proposal also would hurt micropolitan areas that were on the cusp of becoming metro areas.
โIf a metropolitan statistical area is redefined as a micropolitan area, it may fall out of the conversation.