If Congress chooses to create a national infrastructure financing entity, the institution should be structured in a manner that addresses actual funding and credit market gaps and that targets assistance to projects that are essential to the national network but that lack access to sufficient resources through existing programs or other sources. Congress also should ensure that any such entity is properly integrated with or a logical extension of current programs, most notably federal credit programs such as TIFIA.
Any proposal to create a national infrastructure financing entity, as has been discussed in recent months in the form of a National Infrastructure Bank or National Infrastructure Reinvestment Corporation, must be considered in relation to its ability to provide necessary financing unavailable through current government programs or the private markets and to be more effective than current programs in delivering the financial subsidies. It should be noted that the Commission's finance-related recommendations can be achieved within existing agencies and programs (e.g., the TIFIA credit assistance program) and do not require the creation of a new national-level entity. Either way, the Commission urges that important steps be taken (through fundamental reform of existing programs and/or proper structuring of a new entity) to support infrastructure investment that provides the highest societal returns while leveraging limited tax dollars with private-sector investment and new sources of revenue—particularly from direct user fees.
Any existing or new federal financing for targeted investments should be structured to offer one or more of the following benefits: access to capital that is difficult to obtain in private markets, lower-cost financing and more flexible terms than available from other sources, credit enhancement to help projects gain access to private markets, or financial assistance for projects of importance to the national transportation system that cannot be fully funded with identified revenues. The Commission cautions that the potential role of a new infrastructure financing entity should be examined in the context of long-term funding needs and not only as an immediate response to the current disruption in the credit markets.
Finally, the Commission emphasizes that the focus on new or enlarged funding programs and financing techniques should not be seen as a substitute for generating revenue by raising taxes, expanding tolling capabilities, or developing other sources. The institutional mechanisms being proposed, whatever their merit, will not in and of themselves directly address the core problem of insufficient revenue to support needed investment.