Earlier this year, I spoke with Kip Eideberg, Senior VP for Government and Industry Relations at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), about the importance of getting an infrastructure bill through Congress and on to President Biden?s desk. We talked about the bipartisan agreement that something needed to be done. Now, eight months later, we have an infrastructure plan and the AEM is celebrating and looking to what?s next in 2022.
Eideberg says that getting this bill through was a win for bipartisanship and a once-in-a-generation investment in the American economy on a large scale.
He added that if we don?t have a state-of-the-art infrastructure, it will be difficult for Iowa, as well as the whole country to compete in a global marketplace that is molding itself for the future. He talks about the benefits to the state.
Eideberg thanked Iowa Democratic Third District Congresswoman Cindy Axne for her support of the infrastructure bill. He was disappointed to see the level of partisanship that played into the bill, and he says that the AEM will not let those who voted against the bill take any kind of credit for its benefits in next year?s campaigns.
This is no time to rest on laurels. Eideberg discusses some of the topics they will have in their sights for 2022. These include the supply chain and a new Farm Bill.
