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HJ1 hearing: supporters urge Congress to create a $5 trillion national infrastructure bank; Maryland could tap loans, witnesses say
Summary
Sponsor told the committee a national infrastructure bank would provide an off‑budget, revolving source to finance major projects; expert witnesses said a proposed $5 trillion bank could make up to $78 billion available to Maryland over 10 years.
Delegate Lily Qi presented House Joint Resolution 1 urging Congress to enact legislation to create a national infrastructure bank (NIB). She said the bridge collapse on the Francis Scott Key Bridge demonstrated the country’s need for a new federal funding mechanism and argued Maryland and other states face a growing infrastructure-finance gap.
"The solution is a national infrastructure bank," Delegate Qi said. She told the committee the NIB model proposed to Congress would be a revolving, off-budget public bank capitalized using exchanges in U.S. Treasury bonds held by private investors and could provide up to $5 trillion in infrastructure loans nationwide. The sponsor said Maryland could qualify for up to $78 billion over 10 years under the model presented to Congress.
A range of witnesses — including Hussain Wahid (Advanced Technology Acceleration Initiative, University of Maryland), Alfika Muichardi (former IMF economist, lead economist on the NIB proposal), Rudy Arredondo (Latino Pharmaceutical Ventures International), Angela Vullo (Coalition for National Infrastructure Bank communications director) and Stanley Forczyk (advisory board, Coalition for National Infrastructure Bank) — urged the committee to support the resolution. Witnesses highlighted examples such as the Key Bridge and long‑delayed Baltimore rail projects, and argued an NIB could finance large-scale projects that traditional appropriations and private financing struggle to cover.
Witnesses also described historical precedents for national financing institutions and said the NIB could stimulate jobs and economic growth without adding to the federal deficit under the proposed capitalization model. Witnesses cited prior congressional legislation and referenced HR4052 (a prior bill number mentioned by witnesses) as a comparable federal proposal. Several witnesses said the measure has growing support in state legislatures and local governments.
The committee held a hearing and recorded no vote during the session.
