View Our
Current Issue
| How to Prepare for “Better Days”
By Mike Disser >more
Safety Myths Debunked >more
|
Certification Adds Element of Confidence By Katie Parrish >more
OSHA Offers No Easy Answers on Crane Regulation By Lucy A. Perry >more |
|
|
Link-Belt Supports Highway Bill Rallies
October 28, 2009 – Link-Belt Construction Equipment, Lexington, Ky., will support the Start Us Up USA rally and caravan of idle equipment, today in Washington, D.C. The caravan will circle Capitol Hill and include an HTC-8660 telescopic truck crane transported by Keen Transport from New Kingstown, Pa. The rally and caravan aim to pressure Congress to swiftly reauthorize and fully fund federal road, bridge, transit, and rail programs to spur job recovery. The Start Us Up USA initiative is a collaboration of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED).
Current government highway funding programs, called SAFETEA-LU, will expire Oct. 31. Many in Washington want to pass only an 18-month extension instead of creating a new bill, making planning ahead difficult for highway officials. Among the key findings of a study commissioned by AEM and AED, “U.S. Construction Equipment: Powering Jobs and Dollars,” outlined in a letter to the congressional leadership, the construction equipment industry has shed 37 percent of its workforce since the equipment market peak in 2006.
In addition to participating in the rally, Link-Belt urged its employees, customers, and distributors to sign the Start Us Up USA petition, contact their representatives in Congress, and write letters to the editors of their local newspapers.
Jeff Weller, general manager of Link-Belt Mid-Atlantic, Richmond, Va., the Link-Belt crane distributor supplying the HTC-8660 for the rally, said that the industry is not asking for a handout. “The intent is to demonstrate to our elected leaders that the industry needs some decisive action on their part to pass a multi-year highway bill that will give the industry the confidence to invest in new equipment and job creation.”
Chuck Martz, Link-Belt chairman, CEO and president, added that “this funding is critical, long-term, not just to our industry, but to our country. It directly affects our international competitiveness. Similarly, delaying this funding not only affects the industry, but also the overall employment rate and our prospects for economic recovery.”
For more information, visit www.StartUsUpUSA.com.
|
|
|
|
