Senate Holds Hearings on Creation of ‘National Infrastructure Bank’

The Senate Banking Committee held hearings Tuesday on Capitol Hill aimed at improving the nation’s infrastructure while creating jobs. A centerpiece of the discussion was Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) proposal for the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to fund improvement project on roads, bridges, transit and water systems.

Dodd originally introduced the National Infrastructure Bank Act in 2007 with Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE). To highlight his point, he noted that hours after the bill’s introduction, the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 motorists and construction workers and injuring 145. He also noted that June 28 marked the 27^thanniversary of the Mianus River Bridge collapse, which killed three in Greenwich, Conn. in 1983.