{"id":147475,"date":"2026-02-04T18:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147475"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:49:21","slug":"congressman-mackenzie-secures-47-million-appropriation-for-mack-defense-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147475","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Mackenzie Secures $47 Million Appropriation for Mack Defense Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><i>Contract ensures continued local production of heavy dump trucks for the U.S. Military<\/i><\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Allentown, PA \u2014 Congressman Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), representing the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, has announced that $47 million in programmatic funding has been secured for the construction of the Mack Defense M917A3 Heavy Dump Trucks (HDTs). This announcement follows the signing of the 2026 Department of Defense Appropriations Act by President Trump. Congressman Mackenzie advocated on behalf of this programmatic request throughout the appropriations process, personally rallying support for the investment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Produced locally in Allentown, PA, Mack Defense\u2019s HDT line supports 50 high-skilled local jobs. Mack Defense has manufactured over 500 of the M917A3 HDTS, helping to provide robust, modern logistical support for the U.S. Military. This latest investment will enable the Allentown facility to meet the minimum sustainment rate for continued operations, ensuring this vital line and its experienced employees are able to continue their critical work.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cLocally manufactured heavy dump trucks are essential to meeting the U.S. Military\u2019s 21st century logistical needs,\u201d\u00a0said Congressman Mackenzie. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to have secured this critical investment, which will continue to support our national defense, domestic supply lines, and local manufacturing jobs. This appropriation will ensure that our highly skilled technicians in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos can continue providing superior equipment to our armed forces.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cCongressman Mackenzie\u2019s efforts throughout the 2026 defense budget appropriations process were instrumental in ensuring the M917A3 HDTs will continue to be built and serve all branches of the U.S. Army\u2019s need for a modern, commercial-based dump truck,\u201d\u00a0said Mack Defense president David Hartzell.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe UAW has a long history of building the highest quality Mack vehicles for the U.S. armed forces,\u201d\u00a0said Dave Durgin, president of the UAW Bus, Engine and Truck Council and shop chair of the UAW Local 677 Office and Engineering Units.\u00a0\u201cCongressman Mackenzie\u2019s strong advocacy for Mack on government funding and tariff issues has helped retain jobs for our local workforce and build on this legacy.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Learn more about the M917AC HDT\u00a0<u><a id=\"m_-1100472927825142441OWAde5a22e2-6aad-b013-8af2-b6396b151c93\" href=\"https:\/\/mackdefense.com\/mack-defense-in-army-magazine-promoting-new-contract-for-heavy-duty-dump-trucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/mackdefense.com\/mack-defense-in-army-magazine-promoting-new-contract-for-heavy-duty-dump-trucks\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1770314685799000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0r_62RBcmXulPIL-MCU_YM\">HERE<\/a><\/u>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nArnaud Armstrong<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contract ensures continued local production of heavy dump trucks for the U.S. Military Allentown, PA \u2014 Congressman Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), representing the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, has announced that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147475\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Congressman Mackenzie Secures $47 Million Appropriation for Mack Defense Contract<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/mack-trucks.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}