Al Franken: “I rise to talk about an amendment I have offered with Senators Stabenow and Manchin, which is amendment No. 17 to S. 1.…”

“I rise to talk about an amendment I have offered with Senators Stabenow and Manchin, which is amendment No. 17 to S. 1. Our amendment recognizes the importance of the iron and steel industries in our country and ensures that if the pipeline is built, it is built with American iron and steel so we can create more jobs and strengthen our economy. Congress has had a long history of using ``Buy American'' provisions in order to maximize the economic benefits of infrastructure projects. ``Buy American'' provisions ensure that more goods and manufactured items used in infrastructure and other projects are produced here at home. In fact, as recently as 2013 Congress passed a provision in the WRDA Act--the Water Resources Development Act--to require the use of iron, steel, and other domestically produced goods in water infrastructure projects. That is important because it means that we keep jobs and profits here at home instead of sending them abroad. Unfortunately, there is no such requirement when it comes to construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. In fact, according to TransCanada itself, half of the pipe for the U.S. portion of the pipeline would be sourced from foreign countries. And for the other half that would be put together here in the United States, much of the raw material, such as the steel that goes into the pipe, could be sourced from overseas. This is the problem our amendment addresses.…”