Sen. Chris Murphy tells federal agencies to ‘Buy American’

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy has introduced the BuyAmerican.gov Act, which would create a website designed to prioritize the purchase of U.S.-made goods by federal agencies.

chris murphy of connecticut health care — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy

The Connecticut Democrat said his legislation would codify President Donald Trump”™s Buy American Executive Order while curtailing efforts by federal agencies to potentially misuse Buy American Act waivers when purchasing goods or services from foreign companies. The website created by this legislation would allow U.S. manufacturers to identify contract opportunities available for federal procurement while listing all purchases made by federal agencies that involved Buy American Act waivers, the senator said.

In the last five years, U.S federal agencies have spent $47.7 billion on goods manufactured by foreign firms, according to Murphy. Since 2007, the Department of Defense has spent almost $200 billion on manufactured goods made by foreign companies.

Murphy cited the fate of Connecticut-based Ansonia Copper & Brass, a manufacturing firm that lost Department of Defense contracts to overseas companies and shut down in 2013, as an example of the need to place a renewed federal focus on U.S.-made products.

“Every single time a federal agency sends a contract overseas, it means fewer jobs here at home ”“ just look at what happened to Ansonia Copper & Brass,” he said. “The first step toward solving this problem is to increase transparency so the American people can see when the government is trying to skirt the law. BuyAmerican.gov will hold the government accountable to its people, and help us all make sure our government isn”™t improperly sending our money overseas.”