Senate Grills New DOT Secretary On Infrastructure Loans

Nossaman Partner Geoffrey Yarema was quoted in the Law360 article "Senate Grills New DOT Secretary On Infrastructure Loans" regarding the oversight hearing conducted on July 24, 2013 by the the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the implementation of the TIFIA Program following MAP-21's expansion of the program in 2012.  Mr. Yarema, a member of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, provided testimony during the hearing.   

Following arguments by others that two of the anticipated improvements to TIFIA by MAP-21 — timely review of project applications and an increase in the percentage of federal funding — have not come to fruition, Mr. Yarema urged the committee to make sure that the Department of Transportation streamlines the application process.

In his testimony, Mr. Yarema stated, "Letters of intent and creditworthiness review are important, but the level of detail asked for in the letters of intent is tantamount to a full application process, without worrying about Congress' statutory deadline [for turning around applications] under MAP-21."

The article noted that Mr. Yarema and others called for the DOT to follow the intent of Congress and approve higher loan percentages for projects.