Fargo Business Leader Calls on Congress to Get to Work on Multi-Year Highway Bill

WASHINGTON – When it comes to infrastructure, Washington, D.C. is failing the American people, Don Shilling said yesterday at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Shilling is president of General Equipment & Supplies, a Fargo-based construction equipment company with locations in North and South Dakota. He is also the 2015 chairman of Associated Equipment Distributors, the international trade association for construction machinery dealers.

The press event on the U.S. Capitol grounds was organized by Senate Environment & Public Works Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to remind their fellow lawmakers that authorization for federal highway spending expires at the end of May and that the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) will run out of money in late summer.

The primary reason for the HTF’s looming insolvency is that revenues from the 18.4 cent gas tax and other federal highway user fees have for many years been inadequate to support current spending levels. The gas tax has not been increased since 1993.

North Dakota receives more than $239 million per year from the federal highway program; South Dakota’s share is more than $272 million. As the construction season gets underway, that funding is in jeopardy. With the clock running down to the May 31 reauthorization deadline, Congress has made little progress on how to pay for a new multi-year bill and restore the HTF’s long-term solvency.

“Watching from a distance, there seems to be unlimited time for partisan bickering but not enough time to do the people’s work,” Shilling said. He noted that beyond the fact that infrastructure needs aren’t being addressed, Congress’s failure to fix the program has present-day economic consequences.

“State transportation officials don’t know how much they’ll have to work with and which projects will be able to move forward. That means road builders can’t plan, can’t hire, and won’t invest in new equipment. And that hurts dealers, manufacturers, and the people they employ,” Shilling said.

During his trip to Washington, D.C. this week, Shilling met with several members of the North and South Dakota congressional delegations. “I’m confident our representatives in Washington understand the problem and want to fix it,” Shilling said. “But for that to happen, House and Senate leaders from both parties and, equally significantly, the tax writing committees, need to come together to find a solution.”

Shilling had one message for lawmakers: “You were sent here to govern, so get to work. Put aside your partisan differences, roll up your sleeves, compromise, fix the HTF, and pass a fully-funded, long-term highway bill.”

“The men and women of the construction industry are standing by to build the roads, bridges, and transit systems America will need to compete and prosper in the 21st century. But Congress needs to do its job before we can do ours,” he said.

AED is an international trade association representing companies involved in the distribution, rental, and support of equipment used in construction, mining, energy, forestry, power generation, agriculture, and industrial applications. More information is available at http://www.aednet.org.