To view a transcript of this event, please click here.
Regaining America’s economic strength and improving the competitiveness of our economy is aided by updating our aging infrastructure. Equally evident is the strain on public financing in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis which has severely reduced the resources available to many state and local governments for major infrastructure projects.
In light of these twin challenges, innovative ways to finance infrastructure projects can help America’s economic growth. One promising option is Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago Infrastructure Trust. The Trust has the potential to finance infrastructure projects, not by relying on direct federal financing or the general obligation bonding authority of cities but by leveraging private capital to fund meritorious infrastructure projects which would then repay the investors without selling off public assets.
Please join the Center for American Progress for a special conversation with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on innovative methods to finance needed infrastructure projects.