Toby Mack, president and CEO of Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) issued the following statement in response to a deficit reduction outline, “A Bipartisan Path Forward to Securing America’s Future,” by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of the Moment of Truth Project. The former leaders of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform propose in their four steps to deficit reduction that lawmakers “require a highway bill to bring transportation spending and revenues in line.”

“Congress should heed the call by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles to restore the Highway Trust Fund’s solvency by aligning spending and revenue. The only acceptable way to do that is to fix the revenue shortfall, by raising the gas tax and/or identifying other new user fee revenues. A recent AED study found that without new revenues, the HTF will incur a $365.5 billion deficit over the next 23 years. We look forward to working with lawmakers in the weeks and months ahead to resolve the transportation funding challenge as part of a broader tax and budget deal,” said Mack.