More than two dozen equipment manufacturing executives and representatives of American Equipment Manufacturers’ (AEM) staff met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Monday to discuss President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan to invest in American infrastructure.
Buttigieg spoke to the group about the urgent need to make transformational investment in the country’s infrastructure as a way to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and create tens of thousands of new jobs.
“So, that is why we have sense of urgency, we cannot just coast along on investments made decades ago,” the Secretary said. “That is what the American Jobs Plan is about, that is why the President is putting forward the single biggest investment in jobs since the end of the Second World War. I want to emphasize that based on the economic analysis that we have seen, most jobs that will be created by the American Jobs Plan are jobs that do not require a college degree. The multiplier effect of these good-paying jobs is really important as they are the lifeblood of many manufacturing communities, including where I come from.”
AEM CE Sector Board Chair Rod Schrader discussed the industry’s efforts to reduce emissions through the development of alternative power generation technologies for construction equipment and said the industry wanted to work with the Biden administration to ensure that its 2030 strategy takes market conditions, supply, and demand and other issues into consideration.
“There is no greater economic engine in the world than the hard work and ingenuity of the American people,” said AEM President Dennis Slater. “But to continue to grow and create more family-sustaining jobs, equipment manufacturers need a modern infrastructure that is responsive to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st-century global economy. As the Rebuild With Purpose report by the Brookings Institution makes clear, equipment manufacturers are ready for a grand re-imagining of America’s infrastructure. We appreciate Secretary Buttigieg’s steadfast focus on ensuring that America has the best infrastructure in the world and his recognition that an investment infrastructure is the best way to stimulate the economy, put Americans back to work, and support equipment manufacturers.”
Buttigieg also said equipment manufacturers will make a generational impact when it comes to infrastructure modernization.
“It is only when something goes wrong that our infrastructure makes headlines,” he said. “And yet, Americans are benefiting from infrastructure every day when they are driving on roads and highways, or just going about their everyday lives. That is one of the reasons why we think it is so important to lay the foundation for the right kind of infrastructure Americans need to thrive today and in the future. Equipment manufacturers will create that infrastructure. You will literally build back better. We cannot build back better without the building part. And that is where equipment manufacturers come in.”