Citing a lack of movement on infrastructure during this Congress, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., put out a draft plan Monday that aims to "remove barriers to private investment and encourage the private sector to participate in the effort to rebuild the nation's infrastructure."
The proposal authorizes incentive grants to encourage public entities to lease their infrastructure to the private sector and then "use both the funding from the lease and incentive grant to improve other public infrastructure," according to a news release. It also "helps the federal government tackle its crumbing real property inventory by leveraging private-sector dollars and expertise in the construction and rehabilitation of federal buildings," the release stated.
The draft does not represent a complete infrastructure bill and is meant to "reignite discussions" in Congress about the nation's infrastructure problems, Mr. Shuster said in the release.
"The 2016 presidential campaign shined a spotlight on America's crumbling infrastructure," Mr. Shuster said in the release. "Since election day, the American people have waited for action by their federal elected representatives, and I am just as frustrated as they are that we have yet to seriously consider a responsible, thoughtful proposal."
