In Perspective - Buy American?

Harry Applin

This column has usually been about energy efficiency, but a news story caught my eye that needs to be expounded on. There was a lot of flack about the American Recovery Act, passed last year, and even now there are those that say that it has been a failure. One of the items that has been a winner and loser has been the wind energy production. Wind generators have increased our energy production and have actually lowered the cost of electricity in some parts of the country. The original proposal was to boost American manufacturing to build and install wind farms around the country to produce low cost, non-polluting energy as well as creating jobs for American workers. A recent report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop published an article showing data that shows 80% of nearly $2 billion went to over seas companies.

I remember clearly that there was a debate about a "Buy American" provision of the Recovery Act. So what happened? I had to do a bit of digging to find out what happened to this provision.

I was reminded of the radio commentator that wanted Obama to fail and the recent comments of ex-VP Cheney encouraging the conservative political action committee (CPAC) to continue the obstructionists' ways. What I found is that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce along with 13 other members of the Emergency Committee for American Trade pushed republican members of the senate and congress to weaken the wording of the provision. It was difficult to find specific members of congress who opposed this provisions but there were at least two Senators that did go on record, (R-MO) Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond and (R-AZ) Sen. John McCain.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond was reported as saying 'one of the problems is a "Buy American" provision that would require the use of American-made steel in tens of billions of dollars worth of road, bridge and building construction projects. Bond also took issue with Sen. Claire McCaskill's new proposal to limit the salary of executives at companies receiving federal bailout money to no more than what the president of the United States makes -- $400,000 a-year.

A survey of Americans showed they were in favor of the "Buy American" provision by a margin of 84% to 16% and the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a coalition of labor groups, concluded that the 'Buy American' requirements would create 77,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector. When China passed its $600 billion economic stimulus bill this summer, it adopted "Buy China" provisions.

And then there was this from (D-NY) Sen. Schumer, "Democrats have yet to secure any Republican support for a $15 billion jobs bill." The bill was stripped down from $84 billion to satisfy republican demands. Now the centerpiece of the bill is a $13 billion tax credit, which employers can claim for hiring employees who have been out of work for more than 60 days. Schumer and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) drafted the tax credit. But Sen. Hatch's staff says that he won't support the bill. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) Now says that the job's bill won't create any jobs. What is with that?

It seems that sabotage of any bill presented by the democrats is the strategy of the conservative movement. The job's bill is no exception. Conservatives have been adding amendments to bills over the last year making legislation look bipartisan and then vote against it to make sure that the democrats do not get any credit for doing something to help fix some of the problems that face the country. They have been complaining about the deficit and the unemployment rate but are against a job's bill and a commission to address the deficit. It will be impossible to lower the deficit without jobs and sending billions of dollars overseas instead of using it here to create jobs does not help the situation.

http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/wind-energy-funds-going-overseas/story/renewable-energy-money-still-going-abroad/

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/81067-dems-try-to-avoid-overselling-jobs-bill-