Mark Dayton: “this amendment reaffirms that all money appropriated under this bill will be spent in conformity with the Buy American…”

“this amendment reaffirms that all money appropriated under this bill will be spent in conformity with the Buy American Act. It is an amendment which passed the House and will be included in that bill. As my colleagues know, the Buy American Act was established in 1933 and has been in force since then, with only two substantive amendments during that entire 70 years. It is an economic stimulus legislation. It is meant to encourage the purchase of goods made by Americans in America, using American materials and labor. I cannot think of a more suitable time for this to be honored than now, with over 3.1 million jobs lost in the private sector of the U.S. economy since this administration took office. I will repeat that staggering number. Over 3.1 million Americans have lost their jobs in the private sector of our economy since January 2001. So it is entirely appropriate that we use public dollars that are being appropriated for essential public purposes such as homeland security but that we also add a perfectly legitimate public purpose, which is to generate as many jobs as possible through the expenditure of those funds in the United States of America.”