The World's 50 Greatest Leaders

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13
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John Delaney

NIST Event
UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 08: Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., speaks during a ribbon-cutting event for the newly expanded National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Rockville, Md., February 08, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)Tom Williams—AP
  • Title
    U.S. Representative
  • Affiliation
    Maryland

Being a House Democrat in a government Republicans dominate entirely sounds like a recipe for irrelevance. But one of the new administration’s signature issues, rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, is a problem Delaney has focused on since he arrived in Congress four years ago. Delaney is pushing a business-friendly solution: He wants to tap proceeds from repatriated foreign profits to seed public-­private partnerships that will take on new projects. That may be the best option for unleashing major spending without blowing a hole in the federal deficit.