Government Accountability Office Reports on Leveraging in Community Development and Housing Programs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on the leveraging measure used by several federal community development and housing programs operated by the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

GAO found that leverage measures Treasury and HUD reported lacked transparency because the agencies generally did not disclose the limitations of the data or the methods used to calculate them. Based on its review of available leveraging data and interviews with Treasury and HUD officials, GAO found that the leverage measures the agencies reported for the selected programs were based on incomplete data and did not capture the actual extent of leveraging.

In addition, the agencies generally reported measures that described the ratio of all other funds (federal, state, local, and private funds) to program funds. Alternative measures that described the total federal investment or total private investment in a program provided considerably different results about the extent of leveraging.

No agency-specific or government-wide guidance directs what agencies should disclose about the leverage measures they report for the selected programs. Consequently, absent specific information on how agencies calculate these measures and their limitations, decision makers would not have sufficient information to understand their meaning and determine their appropriate use.

Leverage measures can provide basic information about programs GAO reviewed. Their relevance in assessing the performance of these programs varies. To the extent that leveraging is a goal or expected activity of a program, leverage measures can describe program outputs and assess the efficiency and effectiveness of a program in meeting its goals. In cases where leveraging is not clearly and appropriately linked to program goals and activities, use of such measures to describe program outputs could be misleading.

You can find the full report here.

Resolution Introduced to Commemorate 200th Anniversary of Gallatin Report

Representative Earl Blumenauer (Oregon) has introduced a resolution (H. Res. 936) in the House of Representatives to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads and Canals. Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury for President Thomas Jefferson, commissioned this report on transportation and commerce in the United States in 1808. The text of the resolution is copied below.

Honoring the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin Report on Roads and Canals, celebrating the national unity the Gallatin Report engendered, and recognizing the vast contributions that national planning efforts have provided to the United States.

Whereas President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin to provide a new vision for transportation that would unite the young Republic;

Whereas 2008 marks the bicentennial of the report that Secretary Gallatin presented to President Jefferson, which proposed transportation improvements not as ends in themselves but as means to further national unity, which was part of the promise of the American Revolution, as James Madison, writing in The Federalist No. 14, emphasized, `Let it be remarked . . . that the intercourse throughout the Union will be facilitated by new improvements. Roads will everywhere be shortened, and kept in better order; accommodations for travelers will be multiplied and meliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side will be opened throughout, or nearly throughout, the whole extent of the 13 States', and whose words have served as a worthy reminder of the needs for transportation infrastructure since that time;

Whereas Gallatin incorporated the legacy Benjamin Franklin bequeathed to the country through his improvements to the Postal Service, including Franklin's route surveys, his placement of milestones on principle roads, and his development of shorter transportation routes;

Whereas the United States, as a result of Gallatin's legacy, has a record of successful infrastructure partnerships, including--

(1) the partnerships that built the Erie Canal, which vastly reduced transportation costs to the interior;

(2) the partnerships that built the transcontinental railway, which united the country;

(3) the partnerships that built transit projects across the country that promote freedom and opportunity;

(4) the partnerships that built the National Highway System, which fostered interstate commerce, national unity, and broke down barriers between the States; and

(5) the partnerships that formed the Tennessee Valley Authority, devised by President Theodore Roosevelt as a `corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise', which brought electricity, conservation planning, and opportunity for thousands in the Tennessee Valley and across the country;

Whereas any national planning endeavor, to be regarded as a success, must address and reconcile the needs of different regions of the country;

Whereas the genius of the Gallatin plan was its alignment of the hopes of the Nation with the opportunities presented by access to new markets, populations, and territories;

Whereas the United States currently faces new challenges financing the infrastructure necessary for the future economic needs of the country; and

Whereas America must have a plan for its future if it is to succeed in a world of increasing international competition: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives--

(1) reaffirms the goals and ideals that formed the impetus for Gallatin's
national plan two hundred years ago;

(2) calls on the Federal
Government, States, localities, schools, nonprofit organizations, businesses,
and the citizens of the United States to mark this important anniversary by
recalling the important legacy of public investment in infrastructure that
connects and enhances the economies, communications, and communities of our
several States; and

(3) supports the creation of a new national
plan to align the demands for economic development with the resources of the
Nation.

Infrastructure & Engineering News Roundup

Engineering Week

We’re in the middle of Engineers Week 2013. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for IW to miss taking not of this week. We encourage you to visit the Web site of the National Engineers Week Foundation. We’ve been tweeting about Engineers Week, and if you use Twitter you can also promote the profession this week with an #EWeek2013 hashtag.

Mayors Support Texas Water Resources Development Plan

The Texas Legislature is considering a proposal to spend $2 billion from the state rainy day fund to pay for projects in the state water resources plan. The mayors of Dallas, Mesquite, Midland, and San Antonio expressed support for the bill (find about this in the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle).

NAE Honors Engineers

The National Academy of Engineering recognized several engineers with prizes for their contributions to the profession, engineering achievements, and advancements in engineering education. The Draper Prize is especially prestigious, and is sometimes called the “Nobel Prize of engineering.” The Washington Post web site has a very good blog post about the prizes and winners.

National Infrastructure Bank Proposed

Another infrastructure bank proposal has been introduced. This one comes from Rep. John Delaney (MD). His bill would create an Office of Infrastructure Investment in the Department of Treasury. The office would oversee an American Infrastructure Fund and act something like a bank, loaning money to states and guaranteeing state and local bonds. The new release from Rep. Delaney’s office suggests that public-private partnerships will be encouraged by the office, but provides no specifics about how this would work.

Move Made to Eliminate Transportation Earmarks

Rep. Jeff Flake (Arizona) has introduced the Resist Offsetting with Additional Debt (ROAD) Act (H.R. 6472). The bill would eliminate funding where there are unobligated balances for earmark projects under SAFETEA-LU, the present transportation funding law. The bill would also prohibit transfers from the General Fund of the Treasury to the Highway Trust Fund.

Shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund are projected to occur within the next few years. You can find more about this here.

National News

Airport Improvement Program Extension Passes Congress

A bill to extend the Airport Improvement Program (H.R. 6190) and the taxes that fund it passes both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill awaits presidential signature.

Bill Would Alot Additional SRF Funds to Smart Growth States
Rep. Frank Kratovil (MD) has introduced a bill (H.R. 6182) that would provide additional capitalization grants to the clean water state revolving fund (SRF) in states that adopt smart growth principles. The additional appropriation would be 5 percent of the appropriation for the normal capitalization grants.

Infrastructure Bank Proponents

Infrastructure bank proposals have found advocates in Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Alan Krueger.

Another National Infrastructure Bank Bill Proposed

Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (CT) has introduced the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2009 (H.R. 2521). The bill would create a government owned corporation that could buy and sell bonds, make and guarantee loans and undertake similar activity for the purpose of financing a variety of infrastructure projects. The bank would be capitalized by $5 billion, with possibly more in callable capital, a year from the Department of Treasury from 2010 to 2014. The law would close the bank after 15 years.

Other articles and posts related to a national infrastructure bank:
Building the National Infrastructure Bank-Analysis: The Bank Not Built
Building the National Infrastructure Bank-Overview
Building the National Infrastructure Bank-Transcript: California I-Bank Interview
Building the National Infrastructure Bank-Video: Felix Rohatyn Interview
Infrastructure Bank Plan Gaining Attention And Momentum
Senators Propose National Infrastructure Bank
Stimulus Funds Making Their Way to Transportation Projects

Recovery Act and Infrastructure in the News

Stimulus Brings Broadband to Rural Areas (CBS News, Jan. 25, 2010)

Job Cuts Loom as Stimulus Fades (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1, 2009)

Missouri Environment & Infrastructure Roundup (Infrastructure Watch, Nov. 14, 2009)

President Obama And U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Visit Virginia’s Largest Recovery Act Project (U.S. Dept. of Transportation news release, Oct 14, 2009)
Missouri submits initial report on investment of Recovery Act funds (Missouri Governor’s Office news release, Oct. 10, 2009)

Treasury, Energy Surpass $1 Billion Milestone in Recovery Act Awards for Clean Energy Projects (U.S. Department of Energy news release, Sept. 22, 2009)

Missouri Receives Stimulus Funds for Drinking Water and Wastewater (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 20, 2009)
Missouri Receives Stimulus Funds for Brownfields Redevelopment (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 13, 2009)
Stimulus Funds 6,000 Highway Projects (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 13, 2009)
Recovery Act and Infrastructure in the News & Elsewhere (Infrastructure Watch, Aug. 1, 2009)

DOT Inspector General Gets Extension to Spend Stimulus Funds

The American Recovery and Investment Act (ARRA) provided funds for inspectors general at agencies receiving supplementary appropriations through the act to conduct investigations related to the spending of the funds, oversight of projects, and compliance with special requirements.  A subsequent act directed act (the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) required the return to the Treasury of unobligated ARRA funds after December 31, 2012, unless the president found it was not in the national interest to do so.  At the request of several inspectors general, including the one at the Department of Transportation, President Barack Obama waived the recession of ARRA funds for the inspectors general so they could continue long-term investigations and oversight.

Oberstar Proposes to Float Loan to Highway Trust Fund

For some time now, projections have indicated that the Highway Trust Fund will shortly run out of money. The fund, which gets revenues from federal fuel taxes, is one of the primary sources of federal funding for highway projects.

Rep. James Oberstar (MN), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, proposes loaning $130 million to the fund from the general treasury. The Highway Trust Fund would have to repay the loan beginning in the fifth year of the loan.

Related posts and articles:
Highway Fund in Continued Trouble; Empty by August
Oberstar proposes federal loan to fill highway funding gaps

Infrastructure “Bank” Proposals Continue to Get Attention

President Obama’s proposed budget includes funding for a proposed National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund (or I-Fund) of $4 billion to be housed in the Department of Transportation (DOT). It differs from Congressional proposals in that it is a run by DOT rather than the Treasury Department or an independent agency that could finance infrastructure projects other than transportation. A more important difference is that the I-Fund is not a bank, or loan-making program, but a grant program that would not recover funds for reuse in other projects.

Related posts and articles:
As Geithner Touts Infrastructure, Skepticism Persists on $4B ‘I-Fund’ Plan
Benefits and Pitfalls of a National Infrastructure Bank
Budget Proposal Includes Something Like a Transportation Infrastructure Bank
What’s the Problem With a National Infrastructure Bank? Capitalism (And Politics)