http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/12/03/rendell-lawmakers-aligning-on-2-year-treasury-funded-transport-bill/

Senior Democrats in Congress are warming to a new two-year federal transportation bill as a vehicle for upwards of $100 billion in infrastructure spending aimed at job creation -- and a key player in building that momentum makes his home far from the Capitol.

Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), the co-chairman of Building America's Future, held a meeting yesterday with House and Senate aides as well as representatives from the construction and investment industries and the road lobby. On the agenda: creating consensus for a financial "front-loading" of the next transportation bill, likely over two years, and a long-term plan for infrastructure investments going forward.

"If there's a second stimulus or a jobs bill, to me it should be all about infrastructure," Rendell told MSNBC this morning (viewable above).

Stephen Sandherr, chief of the Associated General Contractors, attended Rendell's sitdown. "His message is that Congress should be looking at infrastructure broadly, beyond transportation -- but that there should be some emphasis on front-loading spending for the transportation component, perhaps through a two-year general fund contribution to the highway trust fund," Sandherr said in an interview.

Rendell's idea would be to let federal gas taxes accumulate in the highway trust fund while national transport programs were funded by general taxpayer contributions, Sandherr added. "After two years, you'd be able to significantly increase spending" thanks to the accumulated tax revenues.