Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) introduced a proposal at the end of November to create an independent infrastructure financing authority (IFA) that would enable state and local governments to get low-interest federal loans and loan guarantees to help build infrastructure projects.

The proposal, known as the Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act, would be seeded with $10 billion in federal funds to help state and local transportation authorities finance projects and “unlock billions of dollars in additional private investments at a time of very favorable interest rates,” Warner said.

Warner, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, said the authority would fund a broad range of infrastructure projects, not only public transportation-related initiatives.

He said the IFA would operate independently from existing federal agencies, with its own chief executive officer and a seven-member board of directors. The chief executive officer and board would be required to have “proven expertise” in financial management and must be confirmed by a Senate vote.

In addition, the bill stipulates the following:

• Funds would be targeted to projects at least $50 million in size and deemed regionally or nationally significant;
• The authority would finance no more than 49 percent of a project’s total cost;
• Five percent of funding would be set aside for rural projects of $10 million; and
• Loan and loan guarantees would be subject to some fees, which sponsors say will allow the IFA to become self-sustaining.

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Sens. Mark Warner, at podium, and Roy Blunt (R-MO), third from left, announce the BRIDGE Act to help finance infrastructure projects. The bill is cosponsored by, from left, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and not pictured, Dean Heller (R-NV), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Mark Kirk (R-IL) Photo credit: © Senator Mark Warner, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode