House Democrat Seeks Backing for Infrastructure Bill
Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) told a House transportation panel that the need to improve roads and bridges nationwide should trump partisan rifts on Capitol Hill as he drummed up support for the legislative fix he introduced last year aimed at upgrading aging infrastructure.
“Investing in our infrastructure creates jobs, and it creates jobs that have a decent standard of living associated with them. … This should be our top domestic priority,” Delaney, a freshman lawmaker, told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s panel on public-private partnerships April 8.
Delaney’s bill would establish a fund financed by private companies that repatriate cash held overseas. The fund, which would be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, would be supported by the sale of $50 billion worth of infrastructure bonds, which would have a 50-year term and pay a fixed interest rate of 1%.
It also would require that at least 25% of the projects be public-private partnerships. Thirty-one Republicans and 30 Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors.
The bill is backed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which recently gave the country’s infrastructure a D+ grade and said trillions of dollars are needed to revamp transportation and infrastructure systems.
In the Senate, Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced a similar measure that would establish a $50 billion infrastructure fund financed with multinational companies’ repatriated foreign profits. The Senate version has yet to be considered in committee.
If Delaney’s measure does not advance before Congress adjourns at the end of the year, some of its provisions could be taken up when transportation leaders consider a sweeping reauthorization of transportation programs in the coming months. The 2012 transportation law, MAP-21, expires in September, and lawmakers are scrambling to find ways to boost infrastructure funds.
