House T and I Committee to Hold Hearing on National Infrastructure Bank

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has scheduled a hearing for next week to address the Obama administration's proposal to create a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). T&I Committee Chairman John Mica, (R-Fla) has expressed skepticism in the past about the concept of a NIB and again reiterated his concern. President Obama included in his jobs proposal a request for $10 billion to create a National Infrastructure Bank. The proposed NIB would be modeled after one proposed in legislation introduced in March by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass), Kay Bailey Hutchinson, (R-Texas), and Mark Warner, (D-Va). Under that proposal, the infrastructure bank would provide loans and loan guarantees that would be secured by toll revenues, user fees, or other dedicated revenue sources. Eligible projects would include transportation, water, and energy facilities, and would need to cost at least $100 million, or $25 million in rural areas. Chairman Mica said in announcing the hearing, "While I support innovative financing to meet our nation's infrastructure needs, the multibillion dollar, Washington bureaucracy-based infrastructure bank President Obama is advocating raises many concerns. This hearing will focus on questions relating to the estimated $270 million year-long process of creating another federally backed agency designed to pick project winners and losers." Mica said he instead favors enhancing the 33 existing state infrastructure banks that could get projects selected and started more quickly. For more information, please contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.