In his remarks in Miami, Obama focused on infrastructure proposals he outlined in his State of the Union speech, particularly provisions that would encourage private spending on such projects.

Those proposals include an infrastructure bank, "America Fast Forward" bonds, and an expanded TIFIA transportation loan program.

In a telephone press briefing before the speech, a senior administration official said that "at a time of scarce federal resources, one of the things you want to do is leverage your federal dollars as much as you possibly can, by using them to encourage private investment and partner with private investors in American infrastructure."

A White House background document said the America Fast Forward bonds would be similar to the Build America Bond program, which was created in the 2009 stimulus act and expired at the end of 2010. The White House says Build America Bonds helped finance more than $181 billion in infrastructure.

The plan also seeks changes in tax-exempt private-activity bonds, including boosting the nationwide limit on the volume of such bonds that finance highway or freight-transfer facilities to $19 billion, from $15 billion. It also would eliminate the volume cap on private-activity bonds used for water infrastructure.

In addition, Obama wants to amend the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, to exempt foreign investors, such as pension funds, from U.S. tax on gains they reap from investments in U.S. infrastructure. The senior official said a Canadian pension fund, for example, now would face a 35% tax on such infrastructure investments in the U.S.

The official said the package of proposed infrastructure tax breaks would cost the Treasury about $7 billion.