Start Us Up Rally held May 7th at the Capitol Building

A rally organized by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association was held on the steps of the Iowa Capitol building on a cold, blustery afternoon Friday May7th with nearly ninety attendees. The theme of the “Start Us Up Rally” was that the construction industry has been particularly hard hit by the current recession with unemployment running near 25% in the construction industry and the manufacture and sale of construction equipment down by 50%.
 
The rally showcased speeches from AGC President, Robert Cramer, Des Moines Councilwoman Chris Hensley, Congressman Leonard Boswell and Congressman Tom Latham and several more advocates. The message was clear, pass a four-year federal highway bill and find a way to fully fund it. Rep. Tom Latham had this to say “The fact of the matter is, all it would take is an investment to make sure we get a lot of really good jobs…" The federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993 and the Iowa gas tax has not seen an increase since 1989. "We need a reliable funding source, the gas tax or something else," said Andrew Goodman, of the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association. "Our representatives have to make those tough decisions and this will create a substantial amount of jobs."

The rally was supported by the AGC of Iowa, the Asphalt Paving Association of Iowa, the Iowa Concrete Paving Association of Iowa, Murphy Tractor, Altorfer and Ziegler Caterpillar, Manatts and many more.