Mayor Villaraigosa back in D.C.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is making his first Washington, D.C. trip of 2012. He’s in the nation’s capitol in his role as the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Villaraigosa says mayors want more action from Washington on jobs, transportation and home mortgages. And he has a message for Congress: "The dithering that went on in 2011 is unacceptable in 2012, that we’ve got to put country before party and the people before everything else."

But the mayors have to make that case to a Congress fighting over ways to cut the federal deficit. That doesn’t stop Villaraigosa from weighing in on the debate.

"They can’t cut to the point where they set the economy back again," Villaraigosa said. "We’ve got to cut, there’s no question about it. Our mayors have stood up for the proposition that we’ve got to cut entitlements, we’ve got to make them more sustainable, particularly Medicare. But we’ve also got to close tax loopholes. We’ve got to have the revenues to fund important government services."

Mayors will back up that argument with a new report on the state of the cities. They will also plan to meet with President Barack Obama and cabinet secretaries.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will address the Conference of Mayors. Villaraigosa says the mayors also invited House Speaker John Boehner.

"And we expect he’ll be a no-show," Villaraigosa said. "I’d love to invite him once again. We’d love to have him." But starting Thursday, Boehner will be rallying House Republicans at their retreat in Baltimore.