Russ Feingold: “I rise today for the second in a series of statements that I plan to deliver about the hemorrhaging of American…”

“I rise today for the second in a series of statements that I plan to deliver about the hemorrhaging of American manufacturing jobs and the steps that I think that we ought to take to stem the flow of manufacturing jobs abroad and to strengthen our deteriorating manufacturing base. Recently, I talked about how tax policy can help to strengthen American manufacturing. Today, I want to discuss the role of Federal procurement policy in supporting American businesses and American jobs. The Buy American Act of 1933 is the primary statute that governs procurement by the Federal Government. The name of the act accurately and succinctly describes its purpose: to ensure that the Federal Government supports domestic companies and domestic workers by buying American-made goods. It only makes sense for the Federal Government to make every effort to purchase goods that are made in America. A law requiring this commonsense approach should not be necessary. Unfortunately, this law is necessary and, even more unfortunately, the law contains a number of loopholes that make it too easy for government agencies to buy foreign-made goods. I have often heard my colleagues say on this floor that American-made goods are the best in the world. I could not agree more.…”