While our main D.C. lobbying day, Bikers Inside the Beltway, is still a couple of months away, over the last few weeks we’ve had some motorcyclist advocates from across the country make the trip to Capitol Hill. Last week, ABATE of Iowa had a group of riders in town to meet with the six members of their state delegation. Also in D.C. that week were James Lombardo Sr. and James Lombardo Jr., the long-time lobbyists for ABATE of California. With 535 lawmakers combined in both chambers of Congress, having engagement from riders in every state is the only way for all our elected officials to get our message.
This week, Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) President Kirk “Hardtail” Willard took the Halls of Congress to do prep work for our major lobbying day in May. Hardtail was joined by Steve Panten, Legislative Committee Chair for ABATE of Wisconsin. As part of the trip, we met the newly elected Representative, Tony Wied of Wisconsin. Representative Wied is now a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a key committee for bikers.
In keeping with that, we also met with the staff of both the House Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Energy and Commerce committees to discuss the upcoming Highway bill. We reminded them about our concerns regarding profiling, autonomous vehicles, the threat to the internal combustion engine and other priorities. However, the real purpose was to prepare this staff for what lawmakers will hear about during our May 20th day on Capitol Hill.
Hardtail and Steve took some time while on the Hill to meet with Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s team regarding the outdated definition of a motorcycle. As you may remember, Rep. Van Orden is the Co-Chair of the House Motorcycle Caucus, and his office is passionate about issues that matter to bikers.
Additionally, we connected with Guido Zucconi, the D.C. lobbyist for Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company. In his first year with Harley-Davidson, Guido has attended a handful of MRF events, including making the trip to St. Louis last year for Meeting of the Minds. We are grateful to have Guido as a part of the larger D.C. lobbying network for motorcyclist issues.
Finally, we’d like to thank all the individuals who support the MRF PAC. During this trip, we met with Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin to present a check from the MRF PAC. Rep. Grothman has supported all of our initiatives for a long time and last year even sat down for lunch with bikers in the cafeteria during a break between his meetings! Your generous contributions to the MRF PAC allow us to support our friends and champions in D.C.
Remember, these mini visits to D.C. are setting the stage for our most important day of the year, Bikers Inside the Beltway. Come join the fun and help advocate for issues that matter to you.