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"States can't plan and contractors don't know how much work will be coming down the pike," AED President & CEO Toby Mack says. "As a result, they're sitting on their hands and not investing in new equipment. That's killing our industry."

"We're not asking for a handout like the ones Congress gave the auto industry or the financial services sector," AEM President Dennis Slater says. "We're just asking Congress to do its job and make highway reauthorization a priority."

Bennett Closner, president and CEO of Closner Equipment Co., Inc., a San Antonio dealer, provided a local perspective on the national crisis. Closner, who is the 2009 national chairman of AED, said that since 2006 Texas has lost more than $11 billion in economic activity because of the equipment industry downturn, the biggest loss of any state. And Texas is second only to California in equipment industry-related job losses, with more than 53,000 layoffs in three years.

"I've listened to friends and colleagues agonize over the difficult decisions they've had to make about their businesses. Almost all have had to lay off valued workers, many have closed one or more of their facilities, and some companies have shut their doors altogether after several generations in business," Closner says.

Peter M. Holt, CEO of San Antonio-based Holt CAT, told rally attendees that local equipment dealers have experienced a 70% drop in new machine sales from 2008 levels. He says that the most debilitating impact of the downturn for his company has been a 25% reduction in employment.