John Cranley is calling on Washington to send stimulus money to a city facing a dire budget crisis.

While Cincinnati's mayor is making calls to federal lawmakers, he should also ask them to help the city permanently close the money-sucking streetcar.

Cincinnati's two congressional leaders are standing by ready to help free the city of that budget albatross.

Republican U.S. Reps. Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup both said they'd be willing to ask the Trump administration to forgive $45 million in federal money the city used to build the trolley. Repaying the federal government is the city's biggest hurdle to permanently shuttering the little-used streetcar.

"I definitely would be willing to fight for the city so that they didn't have to repay the federal government," Chabot told me while I was hosting a recent radio show on 700 WLW. "I'd be happy to do that."

The streetcar is closed to passengers during a city-declared health emergency. The shutdown has sparked debates on social media and private discussions among city leaders about whether the streetcar will ever be re-opened to the public.

The city faces an unprecedented $80 million budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, mostly due to the economy being halted amid the coronavirus pandemic. The streetcar costs $5 million a year to operate, including at least $1.4 million in subsidies from the city's operating budget.

And that budget burden will nearly double in six years, when an annual operating subsidy from the Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation and a naming rights deal with Cincinnati Bell both expire. Overall, taxpayers are looking at spending $50 million to operate the streetcar over the next two decades – and millions more in capital improvements.

Spending that kind of money to run an empty streetcar through the streets of Downtown and Over-the-Rhine no longer seems fiscally possible, let alone responsible.

"I would consider supporting an effort to waive the preconditions on federal funds used for the streetcar if the city government made such a request in pursuit of ending operation of the streetcar, not just sustaining its failures," Wenstrup said.

I also reached out to Ohio's U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman.

A Brown spokesman said the Democratic senator would be concerned about how permanently closing the streetcar might impact future federal funding for city transportation projects. Portman completely dodged the question about whether he's open to helping the city.

Cranley did not return a text message seeking comment.

Council supported the temporary closure of the streetcar, and I don't see the votes being there to save it from being shuttered for good. The trolley would need the support of P.G. Sittenfeld and David Mann to keep it going. They voted to build it in 2013, but it's questionable whether the Democrats would be willing to spend more political capital on the divisive streetcar as they consider a run for mayor in 2021.

The streetcar opened in fall 2016, and it's never met ridership and revenue projections. The Federal Transit Administration has mandated the streetcar run for at least 25 years – or else the city must repay the $45 million.

But the money was awarded by the streetcar-supporting Obama administration. Neither Chabot nor Wenstrup were in Congress when most of the federal money was allocated for Cincinnati's streetcar.

Chabot and Wenstrup, both city residents, are fiscal conservatives who have never been fans of the streetcar.

Wenstrup campaigned against the project when he ran for mayor in 2009 against Democrat Mark Mallory, who's political legacy is connected to the streetcar. Chabot, a one-time city councilman, called the streetcar an even "bigger boondoggle" than he thought it was going to be.

A key here is both Chabot and Wenstrup have a good relationship with the Trump White House.

It also probably helps that Cranley – a moderate Democrat who's generally worked well with Republicans – hasn't incessantly bashed Trump like many others in his party. (And we all know Trump's people will look to see what Cranley has said about the president if efforts to pull the plug on the streetcar ever get serious.)

Chabot and Cranley don't have the best relationship. Cranley has challenged his fellow West Side native in Ohio's 1st Congressional District twice, most recently 2006.

But they agree the streetcar is a disaster. And now is the time to do this while Republicans and Democrats have been willing to set aside their differences and work together during the coronavirus crisis.

For more Politics Extra columns, click here. Email political columnist Jason Williams: jwilliams@enquirer.com