Blog

AED’s Chairman Leads Delegation Pushing for Infrastructure Bill

Earlier this week, AED’s 2019 Chairman Michael Brennan (Brandeis Machinery & Supply Co.) led the association’s executive committee for meetings on Capitol Hill and at the White House to push for long-term, robustly funded infrastructure investment legislation.

Brennan was joined by AED’s Immediate Past Chairwoman Diane Benck (West Side Tractor Sales Co.), Vice President of Finance Gayle Humphries (Low Country Machinery), Vice President of Membership Michael Vazquez (MECO Miami) and Vice President of Political Action Wes Stowers (Stowers Machinery).

Participants told a bipartisan group of leading lawmakers and Trump administration officials that the construction equipment industry and the broader economy need a long-term infrastructure bill with increased investment levels, including:

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.);
• House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.);
• Senate Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.);
• House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.);
• House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.);
• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.); and
• Senior staff from the president’s National Economic Council.

Infrastructure investment is a top priority for the House, Senate and the White House. However, the lawmakers made it clear that legislation won’t get across the finish line without AED and its members delivering the message that further delay is unacceptable. Attending the 2019 Washington Fly-In on June 11-13 is critical to ensuring as many lawmakers as possible hear directly from construction equipment dealers about the importance of infrastructure investment.

Be sure to register today and join us in Washington to help make a long-term, robustly funded infrastructure bill a reality.