Finance: Kerry Proposes Federal Infrastructure Bank

Seeking to stretch federal public-works dollars, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has proposed legislation to create a federal infrastructure bank, called the American Infrastructure Financing Authority, to help fund transportation, water and energy projects. Under Kerry’s bill, introduced on March 17, the bank would have $10 billion in initial federal funding. He estimates that could stimulate up to $640 billion in private and other non-federal investment over 10 years.

The Obama administration’s 2012 budget proposal includes an infrastructure bank, funded at $30 billion over six years but limited to transportation projects. It would provide grants and loans. Kerry’s bank would issue loans and loan guarantees but not grants.

Bruce Buckley is a freelance writer and photographer based in the Washington, D.C., area.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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