The Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act and the Railroad Rehabilitation Infrastructure Financing (RRIF) programs administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) provide direct loans and other forms of credit assistance to large-scale transportation projects with specifically dedicated revenue streams. (See Box 7-3.) This report does not directly address the RRIF program because its scope is beyond the Commission's primary focus on highway and transit investment. These tools are governed by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990. The federal government assumes the default risk associated with extending credit to borrowers, with the estimated cost of assuming this risk funded by the program or, in some cases, by individual borrowers or project sponsors. Loans typically are made based on the U.S. Treasury's borrowing cost. Credit instruments receive unique budgetary treatment among federal programs. Fiscal cost is measured with a present-value accrual framework rather than nominal dollar cash outlays (as with grant programs). The "subsidy premium" (or loan loss reserve) for the TIFIA program is funded by the Highway Trust Fund. Budgetary limitations in federal fiscal year 2009 and heightened program demand, however, spurred the TIFIA program to adapt and allow borrowers to pay their own credit subsidy (or a portion thereof) in order to secure TIFIA financing beyond the program resources then available.