America's Equipment Manufacturers Call for Immediate Bipartisan Action on Infrastructure, Job Creation In Response to State of the Union Address

Statement from Dennis Slater, President of Association of Equipment Manufacturers

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Association of Equipment Manufacturers President Dennis Slater issued the following statement in response to President Obama's State of the Union address:

"Last night's State of the Union address was the first in more than a decade to address America's broken transportation system. To compete globally, America's farmers and manufacturers need the White House and Congress to cooperate on new policies that repair and modernize transportation infrastructure – an issue American voters agree is an essential investment in our country, and an immediate means to job creation.  

"The stark reality of the U.S. economy is that it cannot survive without a thriving agriculture and manufacturing base. Our nation's infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades and is a roadblock to commerce that hurts America's farmers and manufacturers. The need to repair and modernize the nation's roads is urgent.  AEM will hold President Obama accountable to, and looks forward to working with him to achieve, his promise of redoubling the efforts to rebuild our nation's infrastructure and 'put Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges.' We support the president's proposal to 'make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based on what's best for the economy, not politicians.'

"After urgently making the case for years that rebuilding and modernizing America's infrastructure for the 21st century will create jobs and serve as a crucial investment in our global competitiveness, America's manufacturers now look to Congress to pass a surface transportation bill that will put thousands of Americans back to work repairing and rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges.

AEM founded  I Make America, a national grassroots effort to dramatically strengthen American manufacturing jobs right here in the U.S. to improve our economy and our country's global competiveness.

About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) - www.aem.org

AEM is the North American-based international trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace. AEM membership comprises more than 800 companies and 200-plus product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Beijing and a European presence in Brussels.

SOURCE Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)