The Invest in American Jobs Act, introduced by Rep Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., will ensure all infrastructure and transportation parts are manufactured domestically to promote American jobs. (Stephanie Yang/Medill)
WASHINGTON- House Democrats said Tuesday they want to create more American jobs by introducing a bill that would require U.S.-made parts be used in the construction of all bridges, roads and other infrastructure projects nationwide.
West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is the chief sponsor of the Invest in American Jobs Act of 2013. The bill’s goal is to strengthen “Buy America” laws, which give preference to American companies, relating to transportation and infrastructure products.
Rahall said loopholes in “Buy America” laws allow 36 percent of parts and products used in transportation projects to be manufactured outside the United States. Although parts of the new bill were included in a measure signed into law last year that authorized more than $50 billion of federal investment over the next two years for transportation infrastructure, “this is to go back and finish the job,” he said.
“Our bill ensures that any [federal or taxpayer] investment … be used to create and sustain good, paying jobs in our local communities, not outsourced overseas,” Rahall said.
Several sponsors of the bill said the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which will open on Labor Day, is a prime example of utilizing foreign products instead of domestic. According to statistics from the committee, the bridge is composed of 43,000 tons of steel imported from China.
“Buy America” provisions were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, but Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., said the new proposal would permanently codify these requirements in infrastructure projects.
“This is something we can do … on a bipartisan basis, in a way that both protects jobs and creates additional jobs,” Bishop said.
The sponsors have shared the new bill with Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., who Rahall said is likely still reviewing it.
“We’ll be using every opportunity we can in the committee and on the floor to push this legislation forward, and I look forward to Republican support during that process,” Rahall said.
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an AAM poll last year showed 97 percent of Americans supported giving preference to American firms and domestic procurement.
“This was a finding that was consistent among Democrats, among Republicans and among independents,” Paul said.
According to the survey, 87 percent of Republicans and independents, and 91 percent of Democrats said they support “Buy America” policies.
Rahall said the bill did see some pushback from American businesses, whose leaders might doubt U.S. abilities to support all manufacturing needs. However, he said he is confident in finding bipartisan support in the House to pass the bill.
“There are no Republican bridges, and no Democratic bridges, but we’re talking about American bridges here, and American jobs,” he said. “We should all come together on this, and give it time, and I’m sure that we will.”
