Three thousand new supporters signed up at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2011 for the I Make America campaign to tell Congress that investment in transportation and other critical infrastructure puts more Americans back to work.
For weeks before the show opened, the I Make America campaign was featured in industry and show publications and, even before stepping onto the show site, attendees were greeted with I Make America messages at hotels and on transportation routes all over the city.
“The I Make America campaign is dedicated to the future of our industry,” said Dennis Slater, president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the trade group that founded I Make America. “At ConExpo-Con/Agg 2011 we expanded our growing list of influential manufacturing and construction industry representatives from across the country who are focused on the urgent need to pass a highway bill and invest in comprehensive, national infrastructure improvements to grow American jobs and to keep our country competitive globally.”
ConExpo-Con/Agg 2011 is the largest construction industry gathering in the western hemisphere. Show-goers passed through a dynamic I Make America booth in the Grand Lobby featuring a grassroots lounge complete with a prize wheel featuring American-made giveaways and a visit by Mike Rowe of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs.”
The many exhibiting companies who have already joined the I Make America campaign displayed signs in their booths, show leaders highlighted the campaign at the opening ceremonies and partner trade associations holding meetings at ConExpo-Con/Agg urged their members to get involved.
The show also welcomed U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who heard the I Make America message in discussions with several AEM member companies before calling for a six-year highway transportation bill to be passed in 2011.
