John Garamendi: “I'll give you another example of how policy can change what has happened. For a long, long time, we would send our tax…”

“I'll give you another example of how policy can change what has happened. For a long, long time, we would send our tax dollars overseas to buy buses, railcars, light rail, ferryboats, and the like. Every one of us who buys gasoline or diesel fuel pays a Federal tax on that--18\1/2\ cents for gasoline and 25 cents for diesel fuel. That money is used to build transportation systems--roads, bridges and the like. And where does it go? The Buy American laws were largely ignored. However, in the American Recovery Act, in the stimulus bill, money was provided for the additional purchase of railcars, buses, and ferryboats. Somehow, wisely, the Democrats, who authored the bill, put in a clause that said that that money could only be used--only be used--to buy American-made equipment. So what happened in Sacramento, California, is that Siemens, the large German manufacturing company, decided that they would like to have some of that stimulus money. They wanted to build streetcars, light-rail systems, so they opened and expanded their manufacturing plant in Sacramento to manufacture the streetcars for Austin, Texas, and San Diego--made in America because of a law that was passed. It is a prime example of what can be done when we pass the right law that says that our tax money must be used to buy American-made equipment. {time} 1810”