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Dems want ‘Buy America’ provisions in highway bill
Democrats in the House are pushing for a requirement that any projects paid for by a new federal highway bill be constructed using American supplies and construction workers.
House Republicans have suggested that a new surface transportation bill would be their counter to President Obama’s push for the lower chamber to pass his jobs bill. Democrats have introduced legislation that would require the transportation bill, which House leaders have suggested could cost as much as $280 billion, to include “Buy America” provisions.
“The Republican leadership has said that the major jobs bill of this Congress will be a surface transportation bill,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a news release. “The question is, where will they create the jobs? Will the jobs be created here at home, or abroad in China?
Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has said that the highway bill would be at “the core” of the GOP-controlled House’s jobs effort, but his Democratic counterpart, ranking member Nick Rahall (W.Va.), agreed that it was important those jobs were kept in the United States.
“We are no longer buying just cheap trinkets from China — we are literally buying bridges and major transportation infrastructure, while outsourcing innovation and capabilities that could be fostered and strengthened in the U.S.,” Rahall said in a news release.
“At a time when more than 25 million Americans are unable to find jobs, are only working part-time, or have altogether given up hope of finding a job, it is appalling, offensive, and downright wrong to send our taxpayer dollars to China when they should be invested in U.S. companies here at home rebuilding America. This legislation will put a stop to this practice, help turn our economy around, and start to rebuild a major sector of our economy.”
