WASHINGTON - February 14 - U.S. Senator Russ Feingold continued his week of highlighting support for American workers today with reintroduction of his Buy American Improvement Act. The legislation would strengthen the Buy American Act of 1933, which requires the federal government to buy American-made goods whenever possible.

"Over more than five years, Wisconsinites have lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, largely because of unfair trade agreements and questionable trade policies," Feingold said. "By purchasing American-made goods whenever possible, our federal government will send a simple message to American workers: We support you."

Under the Buy American Act, the federal government is supposed to support American manufacturers and American workers by buying goods made in the U.S., but the law is full of loopholes that give agencies broad discretion to waive the requirement. The Buy American Improvement Act will strengthen American manufacturing by making it harder to waive the Buy American requirement. The bill also makes the Senate, House of Representatives, and Architect of the Capitol subject to the Buy American Act for the first time.

The bill builds on Feingold's efforts to require federal agencies to report to Congress about foreign purchases. Feingold successfully pushed provisions that were enacted to require all federal departments and agencies to report to Congress and the American people on the amount of foreign-made goods that they purchase in fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006. This bill would make that reporting requirement permanent for the next five years. Feingold also succeeded in passing the reporting requirement as part of the minimum wage bill recently approved by the Senate.

"The federal government needs to be held accountable about whether it is doing enough to support hard-working Americans," Feingold said. "I can think of no simpler message of support for American workers than to use their taxpayer dollars to support American jobs."

Fact Sheet from U.S Senator Russ Feingold On the Buy American Improvement Act

Under current law, the federal government is supposed to support American manufacturers and American workers by buying goods made in the U.S., but the law contains loopholes that allow agencies to buy foreign goods in some circumstances. The Buy American Improvement would strengthen American manufacturing by making it harder to waive the Buy American requirement.

Feingold’s Buy American Improvement Act would:

• Prohibit agencies from invoking a waiver in the “public interest” after a request for bids has been published in the Federal Register.
  
  
• Amend the “unreasonable cost” waiver to give domestic bidders, or sole domestic source bidders, preference when their bids are substantially the same as their foreign competitors.
  
  
• Require federal agencies to conduct an analysis of the difference in cost for obtaining certain goods outside the U.S. versus from a domestic source, including shipping costs, prior to invoking this waiver
  
  
• Require federal agencies to conduct a study to determine whether domestic production can be initiated to meet procurement needs and whether there is a comparable item available from a domestic source before invoking this waiver.
  
  
• Require that products be at least 75 percent American-made in order to qualify under the Buy American Act (current law sets the qualifying content standard at 50 percent).
  
  
• Require submission of annual reports on items purchased from foreign sources, including an itemized list of all waivers under the Act applicable to all federal agencies for five years. Previously, only the Department of Defense was required to submit such a report.
  
  
• Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to Congress with recommendations for defining the terms “inconsistent with the public interest” and “unreasonable cost” for purposes of invoking the corresponding waivers in the Act. These broad terms, which grant wide latitude to agency heads, are not defined in federal law.

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