Powersports
Leaders
Descend on
D.C.
P
owersports members hustled
to nearly 100 meetings over
seven hours in Washington, D.C.,
sitting down with members of
Congress and their staff to ad-
dress tariffs, the Recreational
Trails Program funding, federal
lands access, PFAS chemicals,
and workforce issues days after
President Donald Trump im-
posed new tariffs on all coun-
tries. Between the marathon of
meetings on April 8, many were
on their phones trying to keep up
as policy shifts unfolded.
The gathering started before
7 a.m. as members representing
OEMs, dealers, aftermarket com-
panies and allied trades gathered
in the hotel lobby for a bus that
took them to the Rayburn House
building on the Capitol complex.
In Rayburn, 35 members of the
Motorcycle Industry Council,
the Recreational Off-Highway
Vehicle Association (side-by-
sides), and the Specialty Vehicle
Institute of America (ATVs) took
notes during a breakfast briefing
on key issues. They were joined
by another 10 leaders and staff
from the associations.
"This was my first Capitol
Hill Fly-In," said Ashmore Ellis,
CEO and founder of Babes Ride
Out and Babes in the Dirt. "It's a
powerful thing to know that you
belong here, to see competitors
in powersports come together
for the greater good."
WIND
IN THE
P28
The annual Powersports
Capitol Hill Fly-In, hosted by the
MIC, ROHVA and SVIA, gathers
the industry together to proac-
tively share its position on poli-
cies, laws and regulations that
directly affect the more than
8.4 million motorcycle owners,
as well as ATV and side-by-
side owners. Representatives
from Americans for Free Trade,
the Coalition for Recreational
Trails, the National Association
of Manufacturers, the National
Retail Federation, and the Out-
door Recreation Roundtable also
addressed the group, as did two
senators and two congressmen.
Ohio Rep. Troy Balderson, co-
chair of the House Motorcycle
Caucus; Utah Sen. John Curtis, a
member of the Senate Motorcy-
cle Caucus; Michigan Sen. Gary
Peters, co-chair of the Senate
Motorcycle Caucus; and Wiscon-
sin Rep. Tom Tiffany chairman
of the Natural Resources Public
Lands Subcommittee spoke to
