Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies principals Mark Alderman and Howard Schweitzer, along with former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) wrote an opinion piece published on September 30 in The Washington Post on using the United States Export-Import Bank as the infrastructure bank called for in President Obama’s Jobs Act.
In the American Jobs Act, President Obama calls for a national infrastructure bank to support private-sector investment in public projects to revitalize the economy. As the piece points out, “even if the president’s proposal were enacted tomorrow, it would be years before such a new bank would be fully operational.” So, in the alternative, Alderman, Schweitzer and Bayh suggest adding domestic infrastructure projects to the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) mandate. Currently, the Export-Import Bank only handles such projects internationally; however, it does have the legal authorization to do stateside.
To read more about the Ex-Im Bank and how it could create jobs for Americans in America, click here.