The following information was released by Associated Equipment Distributors (AED):

As part of the Start Us Up USA! campaign, AED and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) continue to raise awareness on Capitol Hill about the construction equipment industry economic crisis and the need for fast action on legislation including the overdue highway reauthorization bill to get the industry back on track.

Last week, the campaign completed two full days of high profile meetings with top policymakers in Washington, D.C., organized by AED and AEMs Washington offices.

On Dec. 15, AED President and CEO Toby Mack and AEM President Dennis Slater were joined by AED Board Member Monty Boyd of Whayne Supply Co., and incoming AEM Chairman Chuck Martz of Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co., for meetings with key members of the Kentucky congressional delegation. The group met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), John Yarmuth (D-KY), and Ben Chandler (D-KY) to inform the lawmakers about the broader economic consequences of the construction equipment industry depression.

The following day, on Dec. 16, Mack was joined by Tom Kirchhoff of Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co., Jeff Mitchell of H.O. Penn Machinery, Ron DeFeo of Terex, and Craig Paylor of JLG Industries for another full day of meetings with key members of Congress and the Obama administration.