From The Top: 250 Before 2026
NAPA PRESIDENT & CEO
NAPA CHAIRMAN
This joint column appears in the Summer 2025 print edition of NAPA Quarterly. Subscribe here.
This year, we’re raising the stakes in Washington. And the timing couldn’t be more fortuitous. With questions about government spending a part of the daily news cycle, a magnifying glass on America’s prosperity, and a looming expiration date for IIJA (the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act of 2021), NAPA is activating our members and champions like never before. That means we’re calling upon you, too.
September 30, 2026 – What’s so important about a date so seemingly far in the future? That’s the day when IIJA funding officially comes to an end. To keep America moving, Congress must act well before then. Which, in turn, means we must act now.
Last fall, our team helped members coordinate a dozen plant and job site tours with elected officials. We’re keeping that momentum going so far in 2025. At the heart of these visits is advocacy – and this sort of on-the-ground advocacy requires three things: interest, relationships, and resources.
NAPA’s greatest resources include you – our members – along with our staff and our PAC. Pat issued a challenge to membership when he became 2025 NAPA Chairman: “Raising $250k a cycle is critical if NAPA wants to be a key policy advocate organization!” Thus, a fundraising target for NAPA PAC was born.
While we know how incredibly impactful such plant and job site visits are for everyone who attends, year-round advocacy is a multifaceted approach. In March, our Vice President of Government Affairs, Nile Elam, penned an article in a national newspaper on the unique opportunity 2026 presents. “We built one of the most robust national highway systems in the world, an engineering marvel. We must commit to maintaining it,” he wrote. While Congress ultimately decides how much to invest in our surface transportation system, NAPA and its members have a duty to their companies, employees, and taxpayers to voice the value asphalt pavements deliver coast to coast.
Please, join us in working toward a future paved in black. Reach out with your questions, opportunities, challenges, and contributions to our collective effort.
Learn more about our Political Advocacy Membership and how to participate in NAPA PAC.
Read our op-ed in The Washington Times.
Interested in hosting a member of Congress at your asphalt plant or job site?
NAPA’s Government Affairs team can help!
NAPA has the resources to support your efforts to build strong relationships with your elected officials while also creating policy champions that will help safeguard the longevity of the asphalt pavement industry.
Email Vice President for Government Affairs Nile Elam or Government Affairs Director Mitch Baldwin to learn more.
