Bureaucratic red tape prevented Regional Transportation District from getting back down payments on fully repaid federal loans
Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee today passed a bipartisan provision introduced by U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper that will require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to quickly return $28.9 million, plus interest, for a deposit that RTD made on a federal loan related to Denver’s Union Station. The committee-passed provision requires DOT to return deposits on future projects within 60 days of loan repayment.
“Every borrower paying back a DOT loan should quickly receive their initial deposit back,” said Hickenlooper. “Our solution gives RTD their $28.9 million and protects future borrowers from the same bureaucratic limbo.”
In 2010, RTD received $155 million in DOT Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing for the Union Station project. The loan required a Credit Risk Premium (CRP) deposit to cover the federal government’s risk as a lender. Despite RTD fully repaying the loan in 2017, DOT has not yet returned RTD’s $28.9 million deposit.
The fix, which would direct DOT to return deposits to ALL borrowers within 60 days of loan repayment, was incorporated into the Surface Transportation and Investment Act. U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Congressman Ed Perlmutter joined Hickenlooper to introduce the original bill last month.
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