Frederick News-Post coverage of John Delaney’s Infrastructure and Global Tax Competitiveness Act:

Committee: Delaney transportation fund plan fiscally sound

U.S. Rep. John Delaney’s bill to help fund infrastructure projects moves forward with a stamp of approval from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and backing from some elected officials in Frederick County.

The bipartisan nonprofit committee published an analysis of Delaney’s Infrastructure and Global Tax Competitiveness Act (HR 5857) that called it a fiscally sound plan.

The act would make the Highway Trust Fund solvent for six years, according to Delaney, as well as create a new infrastructure fund for state and local governments and reform the overseas tax code.

It would restructure international tax law to give companies tax relief on overseas revenue at a rate of 8.75 percent if they buy bonds to benefit transportation projects in the U.S.

That revenue would go into an American Infrastructure Fund, capitalized at $50 billion, to finance $750 billion in transportation, water, energy, communications and education infrastructure projects.

Delaney spokesman Will McDonald said the office hopes the bill will be considered in the spring, because the Highway Trust Fund is expected to run out of funds in May.

Three state and local officials from Frederick County said they support the bill.

Delegate-elect Karen Young called the bill a “win-win” for lowering tax rates for some businesses and raising a substantial amount of money to reinvest.

“This is one of the most innovate ideas brought forward to deal with our deteriorating and inadequate transportation infrastructure,” Young wrote in an email.

She pointed out that most transportation priority decisions would be made by state and local governments, and the available funding might result in the ability to widen I-270 earlier than expected.

Delegate-elect Carol Krimm said the plan to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent for six years is an improvement over the stopgap funding measures recently used by the federal government.

Longer-term funding would help states and cities better plan for projects, Krimm said in a phone interview.

“Anything we can get at this point to infuse funds into infrastructure is a good thing,” she said.

County Executive Jan Gardner also expressed her support for the plan.

“Frederick County residents and businesses would benefit from an investment in our transportation network,” she wrote in an email. ”Time spent on congested roads impacts everyone’s quality of life, time with family, and slows the movement of goods and services.”