Investing in infrastructure is an excellent way to create jobs. We know, because freight railroads have been doing it for 30 years.

Through billions of dollars in infrastructure investment every year, the nation’s freight railroads have created a world-class rail network that meets the demands of American businesses and consumers. This year alone, the freight rail industry is projected to spend a record $12 billion in capital expenditures and hire 15,000 new workers. That $12 billion is going to projects across the country, from routine track maintenance to new intermodal centers to vast public-private partnerships—just the kind of infrastructure improvements that the Administration is looking for. And, because freight railroads are privately-owned, these investments come at virtually no cost to the taxpayer. In the past three decades, freight railroads have invested approximately $480 billion back into the rail network in order to make it the safest, most cost-effective and efficient way to bring American goods to market while saving American consumers billions of dollars each year.

As the demand for efficient, cost-effective freight transport increases, we will continue to invest in our network and create well-paying jobs that cannot be exported overseas. Freight railroads know firsthand that investing in infrastructure is an efficient and productive way to get the economy moving in the right direction, and we will continue to do so across the country—not just as a short-term program, but as part of a long-term plan to keep this country competitive and make our economy work.

As the current jobs and funding debate has developed, many, including myself, have come to realize America needs an alternative approach to persuade elected officials to support transportation infrastructure. It’s time to change the conversation from “the sky is falling” and focus on what the return on investment in infrastructure will be. The conversation should change from only the cost, to emphasize the return on the investment.

Some of America’s greatest political leaders have understood how a strong infrastructure system creates jobs, promotes economic development and advances America’s competitiveness in the international marketplace. Whether it was Thomas Jefferson and the nation’s early canals, Abraham Lincoln and the transcontinental railroad, or Dwight Eisenhower and the Interstate Highway System, they understood such investments provide an outstanding return.

Today’s elected officials – and all Americans – need to appreciate how much infrastructure contributes to our nation’s economy and prosperity. We consistently see paybacks in our day-to-day lives well in excess of every dollar we invest in transportation. We see it in the roads and bridges that get us to our workplaces, school and other destinations. In fact, Moody’s estimates every dollar spent on infrastructure generates a $1.59 increase in gross domestic product.

Such investments do create construction jobs, and that can be a significant short-term factor in lowering unemployment rates. Yet there are long-term benefits as well. Healthy infrastructure supports a healthy economy, attracting new employers and improving the overall quality of life in our communities.

Our industry should not accept fewer federal surface transportation dollars in the future and the American public should not accept a deterioration of the infrastructure they rely on. The public has shown they are willing to pay when they see what they will get and that there will be accountability to deliver. More than 70 percent of local infrastructure funding issues have passed in the last 4-5 years; people are willing to pay for infrastructure. Congress needs to hear this.

A robust highway and transit bill with adequate funding will allow us to move the program forward, not simply maintain it. Let’s envision what “could be”: an integrated, multimodal transportation system – highways, rail, transit and airports – connecting our ports and manufacturing areas with raw materials and the movement of goods in a cost effective manner while transporting people safely and efficiently, all within the context of protecting the environment. To read more visit www.hntb.com/point-of-view

Millions of Americans remain out of work through no fault of their own. Meanwhile, America’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure – our roads, bridges, railways, and public transit systems – are much in need of investment. Rarely have two major problems in American history had such an obvious solution: investments in needed infrastructure create needed jobs. Investments in infrastructure are backed by the President and Congressional Democrats, yet they’re consistently blocked by Congressional Republicans.

Now is the time to put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work improving our transportation infrastructure. The Make It In America agenda proposed by House Democrats aims to create more manufacturing jobs for Americans, allowing the people of this country to get back to work. In the process, these hardworking Americans can rebuild our highways and roads and improve our transportation systems. We can do this by putting an emphasis on American-made products and setting stronger standards for goods and equipment purchased with federal dollars for airports, highways, high-speed rail, trains, and transit. My Airports, Highways, High-Speed Rail, Trains and Transit: Make it in America Act, H.R. 613, for example, would create American jobs by setting stronger standards for purchasing transportation equipment with federal dollars.

We also need to pass legislation like President Obama’s American Jobs Act, which includes $50 billion for transportation infrastructure and a $10 billion down payment on a National Infrastructure Bank to bring public and private capital together to rebuild America. A modest 0.7 percent surtax on millionaires is all that is required to get this program up and running. These projects would also be financed at an opportune time – when interest rates are near zero. However, Congressional Republicans continue to shoot down measures that will not only help rebuild this nation’s crumbling infrastructure but also provide jobs. They call it class warfare when Democrats ask the wealthiest 10,000 families to pay a little more so that millions of Americans can once again have the dignity and opportunity that comes with gainful employment.

Americans of all political stripes agree that there is no such thing as a Republican road or a Democratic road. Even self-identified Republicans support investments to improve a crumbling infrastructure system that the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a grade of “D”. Republicans across this country understand that at a time when two million construction workers are unemployed, through no fault of their own, we can put them to work, improving our economy now and in the future. Good investments are good investments.

We all want to reduce congestion and improve dangerous road conditions. Based on town halls, meetings, and events I’ve held in my district, I know most Democrats and Republicans in my district support these goals, which makes it all the more remarkable that Republicans in Congress are now actively campaigning against investments in infrastructure that create jobs. Their radically different vision for America will become a central issue in policy debates over the next year.

I am confident that we will once again make it in America if we Make It In America. The President’s jobs bill and the Make It In America agenda can do this and they include many bipartisan, tested ideas. For the sake of our country, I hope Republicans in Congress can learn to take “yes” for an answer to get our country back on the road to recovery.

Last week in North Carolina, President Obama visited Asheville Regional Airport and called for more investment in U.S. airports. These are welcome words for business leaders in Asheville, and for those of us who have watched American airports lag in the global race to attract more business and jobs for our communities.

Solutions to our nation’s infrastructure needs often come down to two: federal action and funding. For airports it’s somewhat different in that the U.S. government actually stands in the way of airports and local communities who want and need to finance infrastructure.

The airports of this country are held back because the federal government regulates the financial lives of airports through a Nixon-era legislative framework that pre-dates airline deregulation and has long since lost its relevance.

The largest source of funding for improvements to local airports still comes from fees directly charged at those local airports. You pay these fees, in the form of a passenger facility charge, every time you buy an airline ticket. Yet, the federal government still controls how those fees are collected and what they can be spent on.

America’s airports are not requesting a bailout or any special favors. We are simply asking for outdated, ineffective policies to be removed and for local communities to be given greater say over their own future.

As President Obama said Monday in Asheville, “There’s no reason why we should sit here and watch the best highways and the newest airports being built in China. We should be building them right here in the United States of America. Right here in North Carolina.”

We agree with the President. The federal government needs to free local airports to generate their own resources in their own communities. This will empower local leaders to plan and build aviation facilities with money that stays in the community, and is not sent to Washington.

We offer this postscript to the president’s speech: It’s time to set our airports free. Give us same tools in use all over the world and watch what we can do.