CDFA is pleased to announce that Senators Brown (D-OH) and Perdue (R-GA) have reintroduced the Modernizing American Manufacturing Bonds Act (MAMBA) in the U.S. Senate. MAMBA, and its companion bill in the House (H.R. 1115), represents a comprehensive reform package that will modernize and revolutionize Qualified Small Issue Manufacturing Bonds, commonly known as Industrial Development Bonds (IDBs).

The National Council of State Agricultural Finance Programs (NCOSAFP) and CDFA are pleased to announce that Rep.Young (R-IA) has reintroduced the Facilitating Farmers' Access to Resources and Machinery Act (FFARM Act), expanding certain exceptions to private activity bond rules for first time farmers. To view the Bond Buyer article, click here.

More than 50 state, local and industry groups including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Government Finance Officers Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers sent letters to Capitol Hill urging House leaders and tax-writers to maintain the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds.

The Investing in Opportunity Act (IIOA), is an innovative reimagining of how to incentivize private investment in underserved areas of the country. IIOA encourages investors of all types to redeploy their capital gains into underserved, low-income areas called "Opportunity Zones."

US House Reps. Delaney, Davis, and Yoho introduced a pair of bills that together would support the Highway Trust Fund through repatriated corporate earnings, and create a $50 billion national infrastructure bank.

The analysis used by the Joint Committee on Taxation to show tax-exempts are inefficient is flawed and unfairly hurts municipal bonds, George Friedlander, a managing partner at Court Street Group Research, said at a conference in Florida last week.

Legislative experts at a recent conference agree; in the midst of enormous uncertainty about the future of tax reform and its impact on municipal bonds, it is critical for muni market participants to continue to lobby lawmakers to preserve the tax exemption.

Reps. Randy Hultgren and Dutch Ruppersberger, leaders of the Municipal Finance Caucus, sent a letter defending tax-exempt bonds to Chairman Kevin Brady and Ranking Member Richard Neal of the House Ways and Means Committee. 154 House Members signed the letter.

The House Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing to consider changes to the EB-5 investor visa program. In January the DHS published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on proposed amendments to its regulations governing the EB-5 program.

Reps. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Ron Kind (D-WI), in addition to Sens. Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have introduced a bill to help revitalize economically distressed communities suffering from a lack of investment and new business growth.

CDFA strongly disagrees with the President's budget recommendations - which would gut essential, longstanding economic development programs - and urges Congressional leaders to reject any budget proposal that weakens federal support for economic development.

The National Council of State Agricultural Finance Programs is pleased to announce the release of their 2017 Federal Policy Agenda. The Agenda outlines areas they believe are essential to improving the state of agricultural finance in the United States.

Having failed to get Congress to enact a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Trump may now be setting up a contentious debate with lawmakers over the budget for fiscal 2017, which is almost half over.

Municipalities are encouraged by the federal government to sell existing assets that have revenue streams by providing a financial incentive that is a percentage of the sales price. The proceeds of the sale are required to be held in a account that can only be used to fund new infrastructure projects.

In his private sector career as a real estate developer, Donald Trump made use of tax incentives for his projects on several occasions. This begs the question, "Where does the administration stands on expansion, curtailment or simply continuation of the NMTC?".

With the future of tax-exempt bonds in question, and with growing uncertainity over which communities will benefit from WIFIA, water finance officials are speculating on how the industry will overcome the $600 billion funding gap for water and wastewater infrastructure.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced $1.35 million in available funding to provide agricultural producers with training and data to strengthen their business management skills.