James Traficant: “I have before this Congress a bill called ``1-800 Buy America.'' It says that any product that costs more than $250 is…”

“I have before this Congress a bill called ``1-800 Buy America.'' It says that any product that costs more than $250 is eligible to be listed on this national toll line for the purchase of American-made goods. It is not paid for by the American consumers. It is paid for by the American companies who build a product made in America by American workers who pay American taxes that enure to the benefit of all in this country. $250, where a woman in Ohio could say, ``I am buying a refrigerator. 1-800 Buy America, what refrigerators are made in America?'' Now, that bill passed the House last Congress without a vote, on a voice vote, but it was not enacted into law; and it fell down in the Senate with a bunch of so-called free traders that are so dumb they could throw themselves at the ground and miss. I am letting the Congress know that this is one of the most important pieces of legislation, where the American consumers can at least know what is made in America. They can price their products and see that, many times, American-made products made in our country by American workers cost less than some of these now-exotic foreign imports. Let me remind the Congress that a pair of these Chinese-made tennis shoes that sell for $150 cost 17 cents to make in China, and they are buying missile technology with our dollars. So, with that, ``1-800 Buy America,'' I would appreciate if the Congress, while we are waiting on people to get here, would enact that legislation.”