James Traficant: “I am honored and pleased that the bill has--once again--made it to the House floor. The bill establishes a toll-free…”

“I am honored and pleased that the bill has--once again--made it to the House floor. The bill establishes a toll-free, 1-800 number for consumers to get information on products made in America. H.R. 447 is identical to legislation approved by the House in the last Congress. Unfortunately, the other body never acted on the bill and it died at the end of the 103d Congress. H.R. 447 directs the Commerce Department to canvass American companies to gauge their interest in participating in a 1-800 Buy American Program. After determining that there's sufficient interest, the bill directs the Department to contract out the program. Under an amendment adopted by the Commerce Committee, the bill would rely on the Federal Trade Commission to define an American-made product based on a forthcoming determination on standards for 'Made in the USA' labels. Only those products with a sale price of $250 or more would be included in the program. The bill would subject any companies providing false information to Federal penalties. One of the key components of H.R. 447 is that the program would be self-financed through the imposition of a modest annual registration fee on participating companies.”