By Miles Moore, Senior Washington Reporter
WASHINGTON (Feb. 10, 2015) — Tire dealers and auto repair shop owners from across the U.S. met with representatives of more than a dozen U.S. senators and representatives Feb. 5 at the Tire Industry Association's Federal Lobby Day in Washington.
The focus of TIA Federal Lobby Day was passage of a multi-year transportation funding bill, though other issues — such as tax reform and tire registration — also were part of the agenda as tire dealers and auto repair shop operators met with policymakers on Capitol Hill.
The event began with a luncheon meeting at which members of the U.S. House of Representatives and other Washington insiders spoke, including Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., whose approach to transportation funding TIA favors. TIA said there were 55 participants in the Lobby Day event.
Rep. Delaney's bill, the Partnership to Build America Act, was introduced in the last Congress and was reintroduced as the Infrastructure 2.0 Act in the current Congress. It would establish a $50 billion American Infrastructure Fund through the Treasury Department, with leveraged financing of up to $750 billion for state and local governments to fund infrastructure projects.
The bill also would provide tax incentives for multinational corporations to move an estimated $2 trillion in offshore profits back to the U.S. in return for using some of the collected taxes to repair the nation's infrastructure. This would provide between $150 billion and $200 billion to the Highway Trust Fund over six years, Rep. Delaney said.
President Barack Obama included the Delaney bill's tax reform proposals in his administration's new infrastructure funding proposals, Rep. Delaney said at Federal Lobby Day. “His tax rates are higher, though,” he added.
Other speakers at the meeting included House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; former Rep. Al Wynn, D-Md.; Paula Calimafde, executive director of the Small Business Legislative Council; Dick Gust, TIA government affairs committee chairman; and Roy Littlefield IV, TIA government affairs director.
TIA has posted some phots from the event on its Facebook page.
Senators and representatives whose staff members met with TIA members during Federal Lobby Day included Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Rep. Rodney Freylinghuysen, R-N.J.; Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis.; Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va.; and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
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