Association Monitors Federal Issues Relevant to Shortliners

1950, a group of manufacturers visiting their distributors in Chicago at what we know now as the Fall Marketing and Distribution Convention, recognized the need for a common voice that
would connect them and represent their interests. That same year, they founded the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association with 46 member companies.

Sixty-five years later, the Association has grown to more than 700 member companies, and our efforts to build coalitions, bring members together, and serve as a common voice for the shortline
equipment industry have never wavered.

In this issue, that commitment has us focused on several federal developments, including transportation and tax policy.

Transportation – This week, the Association joined with 68 organizations from every sector of the U.S. economy to urge the U.S. Senate to pass a six-year reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program in 2015. The program would increase investments in highway and public transportation, and those infrastructural improvements would assure that the work of bringing steel and other components to our members’ factories, and distributing the finished equipment to dealers, farmers and ranchers, will get done safely and effectively.

While Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) announced a preliminary agreement on a six-year bill with “three years of guaranteed funding” for the Highway Trust Fund, senators failed
Tuesday to advance bill. That left them only 10 days to act before federal money runs out for road, bridge and mass-transit projects.

McConnell says he will keep the Senate in session this weekend, if necessary, to try again to pass the bill.

Leadership in the House seems less eager to pass long-term funding and has urged the Senate to take up a House-passed measure that extends highway funding until December.

While we applaud the major tax reforms the House seeks, temporary program extensions and eight years of recurring Highway Trust Fund revenue crises do not provide a path to future economic growth, jobs and increased competitiveness.

Our industry would clearly benefit from an end to the cycle of uncertainty regarding federal transportation funding. In advocating for a six-year funding commitment, our hope is that state and local governments will move forward on needed road-and-bridge projects instead of enacting legislation that limits the weight and size of farm equipment allowed on roadways.

Tax Policy – More promising action has come from the Senate Finance Committee, which passed a tax extenders bill Tuesday with a bipartisan vote of 23 to 3. The bill extends more than 50 expired tax breaks for two years.

Some consider tax extenders special-interest giveaways, in terms of dollars, but the bulk of the extenders in this package go toward popular, widely applicable provisions. To be exact, 51% of
the dollars in this bill can be attributed to the following provisions: the research and development tax credit, small business expensing, the state and local sales tax deduction, bonus depreciation,
and active financing income.

While the Senate Finance Committee has approved only a two year extension of this provision, which will be effective until 2016, the move gets extenders one step closer to avoiding a last-minute December approval.

We will continue to monitor these issues, and keep members informed of the progress. S