James Oberstar: “Mr. Chairman, the exchange that we have just had between the Michigan delegation, or its voice, and the Wisconsin…”

“Mr. Chairman, the exchange that we have just had between the Michigan delegation, or its voice, and the Wisconsin delegation and the previous amendment offered by the gentleman from Illinois, point up a problem that we have to face and to which I alluded in my previous remarks, and that is the Buy America provisions that affect activities under the jurisdiction of our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure need to be revisited and thought through and refined. We have two very differing views of the application of the Buy American Act to the procurement at hand that the Coast Guard is involved with. The Coast Guard is opposed to the amendment. They say the Deepwater Program will comply with the Buy American Act. The Coast Guard and the prime contractor on this procurement, Lockheed Martin, have not, to the best of my knowledge, yet selected the engine to be used, although it is widely known and supposed that it will be the Detroit Diesel engine, with major parts made in Germany, assembled in the United States. That is where the refinements come in; products, parts of which are made overseas, assembled in the United States. We have lost the whole subway, locomotive and passenger car business to overseas producers. We have lost virtually all light rail and heavy rail production to overseas. Only just recently, Colorado Railcar has come in to produce a very high quality commuter rail vehicle.”