NSSGA member Janet Kavinoky has pushed the importance of maintaining the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) exclusion for aggregates.
Kavinoky appeared at the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit for the recent America Builds: Highways to Move People and Freight hearing. Kavinoky, who also works as the vice president of external affairs and corporate communications at Vulcan Materials, was the only aggregate industry member listed as a witness.
During her testimony at the hearing, she emphasised the need for predictable investment in surface transportation, a long-term solution to ensure highway trust fund viability, support for core highway programs and for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to administer Federal-aid highway programs.
Kavinoky said maintaining the BABAA exclusion would be key for the country’s aggregates industry moving forward.
“There are areas across the nation that lack the necessary natural resources needed to produce construction materials. For example, the Southeast and Gulf Coast does not have indigenous aggregates reserves and suitable aggregates are imported to meet market demand,” said Kavinoky.
“Congress and FHWA have long recognised these factors and responded to ensure domestic content requirements exclude aggregates materials. Preserving the BABAA limitation is critical to maintaining supplies of construction materials for our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”
She told the hearing maintaining consistent funding for key highway programs across the country had multiple benefits beyond their direct benefits to associated industries.
“A long-term Federal-aid Highway Program authorisation, with reliable, predictable multi-year funding is the foundation upon which state and local governments and their partners across the construction industry plan, design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain infrastructure year-over-year,” Kavinoky said.
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