A road to economic growth

By Terry McAuliffe

Virginia is no stranger to transportation woes. It is hard to find a Virginian who doesn't drive on crumbling roads and bridges every day. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our state's infrastructure a grade of D-plus. Those outdated roads aren't just an inconvenience; they also hurt economic growth.

Billions of dollars in new economic activity at the Port of Virginia are being blocked by insufficient transportation infrastructure here in Hampton Roads. To help remedy this huge problem, the American Jobs Act would create about 10,500 Virginia jobs right away by modernizing our highways, transit and rail systems.

As a businessman working to create jobs in Hampton Roads, I'm excited for the provisions in this bill that will not only help businesses hire and expand right away but will also help prepare our country to triumph over our global economic competitors. Funding to improve and upgrade our children's schools would mean another 5,500 local construction jobs and would help prepare our kids for success in the 21st century economy.

In Virginia and especially in Hampton Roads, troops and veterans are not just our country's heroes. They are our friends, our neighbors, our family. We know what an inexcusably common injustice it is for these men and women who have sacrificed so much for their country to return from war only to find a new challenge awaiting them: to find a job and make a living.

The American Jobs Act includes a "Returning Heroes" tax credit of up to $5,600 for any business that hires veterans who have been unemployed longer than six months and up to $9,600 to hire veterans with disabilities earned in combat. That's what our neighbors and friends deserve.

This bill also provides tax cuts to 150,000 businesses across Virginia. It will help our commonwealth avoid and reverse layoffs by providing the funds necessary to support nearly 11,000 educator and first responder jobs - the very people who teach our kids and keep our streets safe.

Across the commonwealth and the country, people are unemployed through no fault of their own. They did everything right, they played by the rules, and now they're struggling to get by and are worried about their children's future.

The American Jobs Act would get these folks back to work right away, put more money in working families' pockets and give businesses the support they need to hire and grow this economy - and all in a fiscally responsible way.

What's the Republican alternative? Multibillion-dollar oil companies keep getting tax breaks while our bridges get more dangerous, our roads grow more cramped and our construction workers still wait for unemployment checks.

Ask Congress to live up to our values, and let's put Virginia back to work.

Terry McAuliffe, former head of the Democratic National Committee, is chairman of Green Tech Automotive, a manufacturer of electric and hybrid-electric cars headquartered in McLean.