Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Economics

As Geithner Touts Infrastructure, Skepticism Persists on $4B ‘I-Fund’ Plan

2:40 PM EDT on March 17, 2010

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, considered a skeptic of transportation stimulus spending by some lawmakers, yesterday joined two other White House economic advisers in endorsing new infrastructure investment as a means to
jump-start the economy.

geithner448.jpgGeithner (l.) said that there is "a very good economic case" for infrastructure spending. (Photo: WaPo)

But the president's proposed $4 billion fund aimed at attracting private capital to public works projects met with skepticism from a key House Democrat, raising the specter of an internal dispute over crafting a national infrastructure bank.

Spending on the built environment is "good policy for the long run and it's very good policy for the
short run, because it's one of the most employment-intensive forms of
government investments that we can make,"
Geithner told the House Appropriations Committee yesterday during broader testimony on the state of the economy.

"We've got to do it, though, in a way that's fiscally responsible," Geithner added, describing the White House's 2011 budget request as a step in that direction.

That budget plan seeks $4 billion from Congress for a National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund (I-Fund) that would be used to promote more public-private partnerships on big-ticket transportation projects. The I-Fund is often likened to a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) but differs from congressional efforts on that topic in one major respect -- the White House would house its fund within U.S. DOT rather than make it an independent entity.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the lead House sponsor of NIB legislation, has previously resisted the lack of independence for the White House I-Fund and reiterated that skepticism yesterday. DeLauro told presidential budget chief Peter Orszag and Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Christina Romer:

With all due respect, $4 billion in the Department of Transportation is not a nationalinfrastructure development bank under the Treasury Department that hasthe ability to borrow in the capital markets and so that we canleverage private funds. We are not going to get serious investment forthe long-term future of this country until we do what the Europeanshave done in setting up a European investment bank.

Orszag defended the administration's approach, describing the full-scale European-style approach as "something that we continue to explore" and the I-Fund concept as "a first step in that direction."

But DeLauro, a longtime ally of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, aired specific qualms with the notion of an I-Fund located at U.S. DOT when pressing needs exist in the areas of "water systems, energy, environment, broadband and telecommunications." She is not alone in stressing the value of an NIB separate from the federal government; pro-transport reform thinkers have raised similar concerns.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Why We Care About Some Transportation Tragedies More Than Others

Why do we respond to major transportation disasters with so much urgency — and why don't we count our collective car crash epidemic among them?

March 28, 2024

The Toll of History: MTA Board Approves $15 Congestion Pricing Fee

New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.

March 28, 2024

Take Thursday’s Headlines Home, Country Roads

Heat Map reports on why rural Americans are resisting electric vehicles, and why it might not matter much for the climate.

March 28, 2024

Guest Commentary: Traffic Engineers Must Put Safety Over Driver Throughput

No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken.

March 27, 2024
See all posts