CAGTC Members,
Today, the White House released the text of the much-anticipated infrastructure plan, referred to as the “Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America.” As expected, the plan calls for $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years to leverage $1.5 trillion in total infrastructure investment. It calls for: stimulating infrastructure investment; investing in rural America; increasing state and local authority; eliminating regulatory barriers; streamlining permitting; and empowering American workers. CAGTC is still analyzing the text and will send more details later today, but below please find top take-aways. You can find the White House announcement online here. The full text can be found here, along with a summary here, and two fact sheets here, and here.
The $200 billion over 10 years is divided between the following programs:
- $100 billion for the Infrastructure Incentives Program, which will be made available for states and municipalities to invest in “a wide-ranging group of traditional government-owned asset classes.” Federal funding is capped at 20 percent per project; the remaining 80 percent must come from state and local funds or private investment. USDOT, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency are tasked with distributing funds, although the breakdown of how much each receives is not yet specified.
- $50 billion would go to a Rural Infrastructure Program to “enable rural America to address its unique infrastructure challenges.” Rural is defined as “populations of less than 50,000.” 80 percent of that $50 billion will be made available through formula distribution; each state would receive no less than a specified statutory minimum and no more than a specified statutory maximum (as yet to be determined). The remaining 20 percent of funding would flow through a competitive grant program; States are listed as the eligible applicant in this instance.
- $20 billion would be made available for a Transformative Projects Program to encourage bold, innovative, and transformative projects.
- $20 billion for the expansion of existing financing programs like TIFIA, RRIF, and WIFIA.
- $10 billion for the establishment of a mandatory Federal Capital Revolving Fund to finance purchases, construction or renovation of federally owned domestic property.
Additionally, the plan states that it incentivizes the removal of barriers to infrastructure development. For transportation, this includes: providing tolling flexibility, providing flexibility to commercialize interstate rest areas, authorizing the repayment of federal investment to “eliminate perpetual application of federal requirements,” and permitting improvement.
Attached, please find the materials available at this time. Again, we will send out a more detailed summary later in the day.
As a reminder, we will be holding a CAGTC-only membership call on Wednesday, February 14 at 3:30pm Eastern/12:30pm Pacific to discuss this plan. If you have not done so already, please RSVP to me (kcross@blakey-agnew.com) to receive the dial-in information.
More summary to come!
Best,
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org