ABC Endorses Trump for President
During a recent campaign rally at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia, former President Donald Trump thanked Associated Builders and Contractors and its members for their recent endorsement and applauded the association’s commitment to fair and open competition.
“We are joined tonight by Michael Bellaman, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents over 23,000 small businesses and construction companies,” Trump said. “And as a builder I am honored to receive their endorsement; they gave me a unanimous endorsement, thank you. Thank you, it’s a great honor.” Watch Video
“After almost four years of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ anti-competitive, inflationary and divisive policies undermining taxpayer investments in America’s infrastructure, ABC is looking forward to working with a president who is willing to welcome all of the U.S. construction industry to rebuild America,” wrote ABC President and CEO Bellaman and 2024 Chair of the ABC National Board of Directors Buddy Henley, owner and president, Henley Construction Co. Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, in a letter to the campaign.
“With a skilled labor shortage of more than half a million people in 2024, construction materials prices up 32% since President Biden took office and a politically expedient regulatory regime undercutting the construction industry’s ability to deliver the infrastructure America deserves, now is the time for experienced and strong Trump leadership,” wrote Bellaman and Henley.
In July, the Associated Builders and Contractors announced its endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump for president. Last week, ABC leaders were thanks by President Trump for their endorsement during a campaign event in Georgia.
“For too long, the Biden/Harris administration’s policies have locked out nearly 90% of the construction workforce—that’s more than 7.3 million workers—simply because they have chosen not to belong to a union. The needless exclusion of qualified small and diverse businesses––and their hardworking employees––from building taxpayer-funded construction projects because they are not affiliated with unions must come to an end. If America is serious about building quality infrastructure with both union and nonunion craft professionals and contractors, this change is necessary, regardless of who the Democratic Party nominates for president.
Bellaman recently evaluated Trump’s pitch to American workers on Fox News’ ‘Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street’ program.
“ABC looks forward to continuing our productive relationship with the future Trump administration in creating commonsense solutions, where we will work together to create the conditions for all Americans to prosper and achieve their career dreams by addressing issues critical to the merit shop construction industry, including:
- Rolling back exclusionary Biden/Harris administration regulations promoting and mandating project labor agreements on federal and federally assisted construction projects, which effectively lock out almost 9 out of 10 U.S. construction workers from building taxpayer-funded projects because they are not members of unions.
- Providing construction industry small businesses with tax certainty and fairness.
- Enhancing an inclusive, all-of-the-above workforce development strategy where workers and employers have the freedom to choose the best way to develop the construction industry’s workforce through industry-recognized and government-registered apprenticeship programs that provide value as we build America’s people and projects.”