Dodd Backs Infrastructure Bank -- Courant.com

Dodd Backs Infrastructure Bank

By DAVID LIGHTMAN | Washington Bureau Chief

1:13 PM EDT, August 1, 2007

Article Tools

WASHINGTON - A new National Infrastructure Bank could make major new investments in rebuilding America's crumbling roads, bridges and water systems under a plan proposed today by Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Chuck Hagel.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, teamed with Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, to introduce legislation that would set up a system that would help fund bigger public projects, projects that Washington and local governments often have trouble finding funds to build.

The bank idea has been simmering for years, and the bill is a result of studies headed by Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The center launched an effort to address major infrastructure issues about three years ago, a study headed by former Ambassador Felix Rohatyn and former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman.

Too often, the study found, infrastructure funding is a hodgepodge of projects. "too much public investment in recent years has been earmarked for projects that have not gone through an analytic justification," said John J. Hamre, the center's president and chief executive officer.

Estimates on cost to repair infrastructure run into the billions. The Federal Transit Administration has said $21.8 billion is needed each year over the next 20 years to improve public transit systems. The Environmental Protection Agency has said hundreds of billions are needed to replace and repair drinking water and wastewater systems that are often 5o to 100 years old.

The Texas Transportation institute offered another reason to beef up infrastructure--the average traveler, the agency said, is delayed 51.5 hours a year because of traffic and infrastucture-related congestion in the countrys' 20 biggest metro areas.

The Dodd-Hagel plan aims to ease these problems by establishing the bank as an independent government entity. It would be led by a five member Board of Directors, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Washington would invest at least $75 million, and projects could be proposed by states, local governments, tribes, transit agencies and so on. The bank would analyze the request, and then if approved could develop a financing package with full faith and credit from the government.

It could involve direct subsidies, direct loan guarantees, long term tax credit general purpose bonds, and long term tax credit infrastructure project-specific bonds. The ceiling to issue bonds would be $60 billion.

Dodd maintained that the bank was needed because "the 21st century holds great promise for our nation, but you can't journey to a brighter tomorrow by relying on yesterday's infrastructure."

As Banking Committee Chairman, Dodd is in a position to help move the bill forward--and Hagel is a senior member of the committee.

Would you recommend this?

Rate it:

Dodd Backs Infrastructure Bank

Article Tools

Classifieds

Popular stories