Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is lobbying his fellow Democrats in Congress and the White House to ensure that any jobs bill comes with $100 billion in direct infrastructure investment and another $20 billion to launch a national infrastructure bank.

In an interview with E&E, Rendell said such an infrastructure-focused jobs bill that also includes increased loan guarantees for small businesses and an investment tax credit "would be the first thing in the Obama administration that would have bipartisan support."

Democratic leaders in both chambers are working on legislation aimed at addressing the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate. But lawmakers have so far provided only a rough sketch of what such a bill would look like and how they would pay for it.

Rendell has been making the rounds in Washington to win support for his proposal. He said in the past week he has met with President Obama, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.

"This is a great opportunity," said Rendell, who co-chairs the infrastructure advocacy group Building America's Future along with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). "I like to joke that 'infrastructure' is the least sexy word in the American dictionary, but all of a sudden it has a little more oomph."

Under his plan, roughly $70 billion would be used to fund "shovel ready" road and rail work, and $30 billion would be used for non-transportation infrastructure ranging from water and sewer projects to the development of energy storage, or "smart gird," technology.

While congressional Democrats are currently considering funding the legislation by tapping a fund they created last year to stabilize the financial sector, Rendell is instead calling for a simple loan from the Treasury's general fund.

He said the money would be used to fund infrastructure projects over the next 12 to 18 months, buying lawmakers time to develop new financing mechanisms to pay for road and rail work. The loan would be repaid once Congress decides on how to raise the needed revenue -- by raising the gas tax, increasing tolling or some other alternative. In effect, the plan would create a one-year front-loaded transportation bill, followed by a four- to five-year reform-minded bill that would ultimately pay the tab.

Rendell said that while the current political climate, coupled with the economic turmoil, makes it difficult to propose tax increases or other financing mechanisms, everyone understands that the next full highway bill will have to do the unpopular.

"Everyone knows we're going to have to find a way to fund it," Rendell said. "It's not conceivable that there won't be a [highway bill], so somewhere along the road, someone is going to have to bite the bullet on this."

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who is calling for roughly $70 billion for transportation work in any jobs bill, said last week that he and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) have discussed a front-loaded plan but that plenty of hurdles remain before it could become a reality. One big question is whether it could clear the Senate, where a small number of Republicans held up extensions of the last highway bill over spending concerns.

Infrastructure bank

Rendell said that the infrastructure bank is at the center of his transportation-heavy pitch to his fellow Democrats. He estimated that there is as much as $400 billion available in the private sector for public-private partnerships.

"The infrastructure bank can leverage private dollars, and there is a ton of private money waiting to get into infrastructure," Rendell said. "It's just looking for a vehicle to invest it through, and the bank could be the answer."

Rendell, who saw his effort to privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike fall flat, said public officials need to do a better job educating Americans about both the potential of private investment and the amount that is already out there.

"If the citizens understand that private money coming in would take away at least some of the need for additional taxes, I think they'd have a better understanding and more support," he said.

Rendell said that in addition to harnessing private investment, the infrastructure bank would be crucial to funding large-scale projects that contain more than one state, such as several proposed high-speed rail corridors.

During his campaign, Obama called for $60 billion over 10 years to start the infrastructure bank and requested $5 billion in fiscal 2009 for the effort. Congress has not finished its work on the fiscal 2009 transportation budget, but the House version provides the option of transferring up to half of the $4 billion it gives to high-speed rail to an infrastructure bank, if Congress were to create one. The Senate version, meanwhile, passed on providing the seed money needed to get a bank off the ground.

Rendell said that if he is successful in securing the cash for infrastructure, it will buy lawmakers the time they need to craft needed reforms. But plenty of work would remain.

"If the stimulus was 1A, this is 1B," he said of the jobs package. "But we still need a long-term, 10-year revitalization plan for this country's infrastructure."

Secretary Rendell?

Rendell has a long history of infrastructure advocacy, including in his current role as co-chairman of Building America's Future and his past role as president of Rebuild America.

He has been a fixture at congressional hearings on transportation investment, leading many to speculate that he was on Obama's short list for Transportation secretary before the job ultimately went to Ray LaHood.

Rendell downplayed talk that he was a serious candidate for the position but also stressed that he quickly removed his name from consideration out of a desire to finish his final term as governor.

But with his current term ending in a little more than a year, and with two of his former aides now holding senior policy posts in Obama's DOT, some have speculated that Rendell may now be eyeing LaHood's job.

Rendell deflected such speculation by saying that he believes LaHood has done a "terrific job" and should continue in his role. Still, Rendell was quick to add that, "If the president of the United States asks, it's very hard to say no."