Jobs linked to roads, bridges
Oxford Press – A new job creation strategy has emerged out of Washington, D.C., this week to put people back to work by improving the nation’s infrastructure — the road, water, rail, air and technology systems traveled by people everyday.
America’s aging, underfunded and overburdened infrastructure has a “D” grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
To fund infrastructure improvements, two main proposals are on the table. One co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, was introduced Friday. The second was introduced earlier this year by other U.S. senators and was endorsed by President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act Thursday. The proposals call to create a national infrastructure bank.
An infrastructure bank, according to the proposals, would be an independent agency with a Senate-confirmed board of directors that awards loans and loan guarantees for infrastructure projects of regional and national significance. The ideas are that the bank would initially take a pot of seed money and once loan payments start coming in, become self sustainable by making new loans with the payments from existing loans. Private investors could also invest in the proposed bank.
