Sen. Feingold Lobbies Colleagues for “Buy American” Clause

An influential U.S. Senator is urging his colleagues to include a version of the “buy American” clause in the upper chamber’s yet-to-be-unveiled jobs bill, claiming the provision would go a long way toward putting unemployed Americans back to work.

Sen. Russ Feingold, a long time critic of job-killing free trade policies, in a letter to Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) asks that any jobs bill that passes the Senate includes a domestic procurement clause.

“Robust domestic sourcing requirements will help to ensure that federal resources are being used for their intended purposes - to create jobs here in the United States,” he writes.

According to Feingold, a “buy American” provision in a jobs package would allow the nation’s beleaguered manufacturing sector to regain its footing after a very rough two-plus year period.  In the past two years alone, the nation’s manufacturing sector has shed 2.1 million jobs.

"Unemployed workers in the United States are facing a double digit unemployment rate, the highest rate since 1983, and we need to do all we can to promote fiscally responsible federal policies that support the creation of American jobs to help get the unemployed and underemployed back to work," Feingold wrote.

Unlike the “buy American” clause contained in the $787 billion stimulus package, Feingold would make this provision much more difficult to circumvent.  According to that version, there were numerous ways to get around the domestic procurement requirement.  For one, the bill excluded America’s current trading partners, and made, for instance, Canadian products eligible.  The previous version only required U.S.-made steel products to be purchased, other foreign-made goods were excluded.  In addition, there were a whole host of other loopholes used to get around the “buy American” provisions.

"While there should be a reasonable waiver process included in domestic sourcing provisions to address situations where American-made goods may not be available or are prohibitively expensive, it is currently too easy to waive existing domestic sourcing requirements," he said.

Feingold is also the author of a bill that would strengthen the Buy American Act of 1933 by making it more difficult to avoid purchasing domestically made products.  According to that legislation, the only way that the policy can be waived is if the foreign-made products are significantly cheaper, there is a shortage of the product in the U.S. or if doing so is not in the public’s best interest.  The last provision is so broad and vague that many have exploited it over the year, something Feingold would like to put an end to.

“The federal government needs to be held accountable on whether it is supporting hardworking Americans,” Feingold said. “My legislation will help close loopholes in current law that have allowed federal agencies to evade the Buy American Act. By purchasing American-made goods whenever possible, our federal government will send a simple message to American workers: We support you.”