President Obama paid a March 29 visit to PortMiami—the site of a $1-billion tunnel project financed partly by private funding—and promoted ways of increasing both public and private funding for infrastructure.
"There are few more important things that we can do to create jobs right now and strengthen our economy over the long haul than rebuilding the infrastructure that powers our businesses and our economy—our roads, our bridges, our schools and our ports just like this one," the president said.
With the Panama Canal expansion targeted for completion by 2015, many U.S. ports are expanding to handle the larger ships that will use the canal and looking for help from the federal government. Last July, Obama signed an executive order expediting federal permitting for projects at the ports of Charleston, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Miami; New York City and New Jersey; and Savannah, Ga.
然而,指令并没有资金。绚丽的a Gov. Rick Scott (R) noted as much when he chided Obama for the federal government's inability to fund its part of a $180-million project to deepen PortMiami's channel to 50 ft from 42 ft. The Army Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville District expects to award a dredging contract in May.
可能会有更多帮助。参议院环境和公共工程委员会于3月20日一致批准了一项新的水资源法案，其中一项规定尤其引起了港口的关注：它需要港口维护信托基金年度支出挖泥工程，以等于流入流入该的费用基金。近年来，支出远远远远低于该基金的收入。如果颁布，则该规定将在疏gried时增加支出。
In Miami, Obama did not mention the Senate bill or Scott's criticism about dredging funding. Instead, the president focused on infrastructure proposals, many of which he outlined in his State of the Union speech or earlier.
He emphasized ideas to encourage private spending on such projects and called for an infrastructure bank, new "America Fast Forward" bonds and an expanded TIFIA transportation loan program.
此外，奥巴马正在寻求避税私人活跃债券的变化，包括消除用于水基础设施的此类债券的数量上限，并提高为高速公路或货运转移设施提供资金的债券限制。奥巴马还希望免除外国投资者，例如养老基金，不受他们从美国基础设施的投资中获得的收益征税。
我们一直支持的更多私人基础设施美元“是我们一直支持的东西，”美国国会关系基础设施促进总监肖恩·奥尼尔（Sean O'Neill）说。“建筑市场上的钱越多，我们作为一个行业就越好。”
Congress has not adopted some of Obama's ideas, such as the infrastructure bank. But other elements, such as removing the water-infrastructure bond cap, have had substantial support on Capitol Hill.
