Sens. Blunt, Bennet call for creation of infrastructure fund

U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) have introduced a bill to create a $50 billion "American Infrastructure Fund" that would help finance major infrastructure projects.

The senators' proposed "Partnership to Build America Act" would invest in transportation, energy, communications, water and education infrastructure projects, the senators said in a press release.

The fund would potentially support hundreds of billions of dollars in loan guarantees and financing authority for state and local governments. The bill would encourage U.S. businesses to purchase the bonds by allowing them to exclude a certain portion of their overseas earnings from taxation.

The amount that the businesses would be permitted to repatriate for each dollar of bond purchases would be determined by a competitive auction.

"Washington needs to pass policies to help jump-start private sector job creation," said Blunt.