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On paper, Senator Ron Wydens idea to resurrect the Build America Bonds program would go a long way toward fixing the nations crumbling highways and bridges.

The federally subsidized municipal bonds created in the 2009 U.S. economic stimulus proved popular with Wall Street investors and went on to finance almost $190 billion of public-works projects. Now, as Wyden tries to jump-start debate on long-term highway funding, hes struggling to gain traction.

Even with benchmark municipal yields at 11-month lows, localities are selling fewer bonds as they mend their finances after the recession sapped revenue. The federal government let the Build America Bonds program expire at the end of 2010 and later scaled back the 35 percent subsidy to issuers as part of broader spending cuts.

Many governments were burned pretty badly, Steve Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, said in an interview. The confidence is just not there.

A reboot of Build America Bonds would take a large enough federal subsidy to entice states to run up debt after the recession, said Scott Pattison executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The memory is still pretty fresh, Pattison said in a telephone interview. The sweetener would have to be pretty significant.

Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who runs the Senate Finance Committee, has been pitching ideas to finance a six-year measure boosting infrastructure spending and replenish the U.S. Highway Trust Fund. That pool may not be able to meet its financial obligations as early as July. He said last week that while he hasnt decided on an approach, it may include boosting the 18.4 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax and restoring Build America Bonds.

There are two pieces in the transportation funding equation, Wyden said in an interview. One is funding, which is the downstream approaches like the gas tax. Then on top of that, I want to focus on finance because Build America Bonds was so successful.

By most measures, the program was just that. Municipalities sold $188 billion of the taxable bonds to finance investment in infrastructure such as water, road and transit projects, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The securities became the fastest-growing part of the $3.7 trillion municipal market and drew international buyers. The debt has earned 9.6 percent this year through May 20, beating the 6.3 percent gain for the entire local-bond market, Bank of America Merrill Lynch data show.

Original post:
Wydens Build America Bonds Push Relies on City Skeptics