WASHINGTON (AP) - A national infrastructure bank to promote private investment in road and rail projects could be an important part of every job that President Barack Obama expected to eventually bring relief to the unemployed.
The White House did not disclose the contents of the package that Obama's speech is to reveal a joint session of Congress next Thursday. But the president has pushed the idea of infrastructure, the bank's recent speeches, and praised the Senate and House bills, which create a government-backed lender.
There is a bank that would be the time to organize, could have a real impact on employment in the next year - and especially before the 2012 elections in November - is under discussion.
Obama seems to think that would.He said in a press conference in July that while the proposed bank is "relatively low" could imagine "a project that we are rebuilding roads, bridges and ports and schools and lines broadband and intelligent networks, and having all these construction workers and put them to work now. "
But Janet Kavinoky, director of infrastructure issues at the US Chamber of Commerce, warned that "even in the next two years, I do not think the bank will be the kind of job creation."
The best way to stimulate job growth in the short term is for Congress to pass long-stalled bills to fund programs for aviation and highway, she said.
Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the bank's infrastructure. Kavinoky said that the U.S. is one of the few large countries, where there is no central source for low-cost financing for construction projects. But he said it will take time to get it going and come up with projects where the funds can be placed.
Senator John Kerry, D.-Mass., Which is sponsored by the infrastructure, bank bill, argued that "we have projects all across America who are ready to leave tomorrow." He said the bank "could be a cash flow next year, easily."
Michael Likosky, senior researcher at the Institute of NYU to inform the public and author of "bank of Obama: a sustainable New equity financing," said he is working with transportation agencies in California and New York that "d waiting for the federal government to say they are going to support these projects. "
Commitment to a national infrastructure bank might provide a spark positive for financial markets and encourage investment, he said.
The Bank will complement the federal spending on infrastructure by promoting private sector investment in projects of national or regional importance. The private sector currently provides only about 6 percent of infrastructure costs.
Supporters, ranging from the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, say the pension funds, private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds are in the hundreds of billions of dollars ready to invest in low-risk infrastructure projects.
It's better than having a pension fund money goes to bonds, Likosky said. "It's really changed our approach, we are in a difficult economic environment and we will be, we must ensure the money we have in progress.".
Bill Kerry would require 10 billion dollars in seed money by the government to get the loan to go first to cover administrative costs. The bank is owned, operated by an independent board of the independent federal agency and after the initial expenditure. Public-private partnerships, corporations and state and local governments would be eligible for loans.
The directors of the bank chooses projects to fund based on an analysis of costs, benefits and revenue streams such as tolls or fees to pay the loan. Once the loan terms, including interest rates and fees to cover the risk, are fixed, the Treasury Department to disburse the loan.
Urban projects should be at least $ 100 million size, rural areas $ 25 million. The infrastructure bank loans could not cover more than 50 percent of project costs.
"There will be a revenue stream for depreciation and therefore the project stand on its own as it will be a good project to attract sufficient private sector funding," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, a Republican co-sponsors many of the Kerry's plan.
Supporters estimate the bank could create up to $ 160 billion loan from the government for over a decade, and even up to $ 650 billion in projects.
In the house, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., A similar law, based on 25 billion in start-up funds and make use of bonds and loans to boost building projects. Both Kerry and DeLauro will cover transportation, water and energy projects.
DeLauro also include communication projects. She said her bill was inspired by the European Investment Bank, which was the financing of infrastructure projects over 50 years and last year invested more than $ 100 billion.
Obama, in his 2012 budget proposal provides for spending $ 30 billion infrastructure bank to begin within the Transportation Department that would provide grants and loans for transport projects.
This idea has drawn opposition from Speaker of the House Committee on Transportation, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. He said in a recent article in the congressional roll call would be best for increased aid to the existing infrastructure of state banks "rather than increasing the size of the federal government's excessive bureaucracy that" Some people advocate the creation a national infrastructure bank. "
Kerry said a 2009 American Society of Civil Engineering report said that 2.2 trillion dollars to spend over five years to bring the nation's roads, bridges and water systems to an appropriate level. He said that Congress must both pass a new highway law and agree on alternatives to the bank.
"If we can take advantage of $ 650 million and get the money moving in the bill of lading, we can begin to nibble at the problem," said Kerry.
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