Report prepared by CSG Research Managing Partner, George Friedlander.
Executive summary:
A lot has been written about what a new Federal infrastructure plan might look like, and “might” is the key word, because there is such uncertainty as to what the Administration or Congress will agree on once actual policymaking begins. In this first of many anticipated discussions of the topic, we provide a set of “guidelines” as to policy issues that lawmakers need to consider when developing any plan to increase infrastructure investment. To start off, there continues to be vat confusion between the process of “financing” a given infrastructure activity, and the process of “funding.” Availability of investible monies for a project—financing—is vast. What state and local governments need is additional access to funding: support for payment for a project, or a means to reduce the amount paid annually on debt issued to pay for the project.