Members of the Highway Materials Group (HMG) met with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.), in his U.S. Capitol office Dec. 3 to discuss surface transportation infrastructure and the need to increase investment in the program long before the expiration of current law next May.
As McConnell prepares to take the reins of the upper chamber in January, the meeting was an opportunity for the highway materials construction industry to urge him collectively to make America’s infrastructure a priority for the Senate’s agenda in the new year.
During the half-hour meeting, the senator stressed that he, his staff and his colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, were acutely aware of the issue and that solutions are constantly being discussed, though not publicly. No commitment was made regarding when or how a new highway bill could be passed by Congress, but McConnell commented that infrastructure was perhaps the one issue that enjoys broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.
Each HMG organization was represented by a Kentucky member, including Jerry Geraghty, president and CEO, Rogers Group Inc., (based in Nashville, with operations throughout Kentucky) who spoke for the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) and shared with the senator precisely what the passage of a long-term, well-funded highway bill would mean for his constituents.
The Highway Materials Group is comprised of the NSSGA, American Concrete Pavement Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, National Asphalt Pavement Association, National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association and Portland Cement Association.