Murphy's Manufacturing Jobs Bill Moving Fast

Press Release

Within weeks of introducing a bill to require all federal contracting officials to accept and solicit information from businesses regarding how many American jobs would be retained or created if their bid was chosen, today Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) announced that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved his legislation. Murphy's bill, the American Jobs Matter Act, now moves in line for a potential vote on the House floor in the fall.

"U.S. manufacturers should get preference when bidding on federal contracts - it's as simple that that. My bill would allow federal agencies to give an advantage to bids that create jobs here in the United States. It just makes sense to provide an incentive for federal contractors to create as many jobs here in the United States as possible," said Murphy.

By giving domestic companies the ability to provide a "jobs impact statement," federal bureaucrats responsible for awarding federal contracts for goods and services will be able to see fully how their decision will affect our national economic recovery. Under current practices, loopholes in federal Buy American laws intended to steer federal purchasing towards U.S. companies have allowed too many tax dollars to be spent on goods from foreign companies, even when those same products are made within our borders.

In fact, in Fiscal Year 2009, 44,054 waivers of the Buy American laws were granted, worth more than $13.8 billion in taxpayer dollars. And in the final year of President Bush's term, 65,000 waivers were approved, a 450% increase over the previous year, shipping millions of American tax dollars overseas and affecting thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

"This bill came from the frustrations that have been expressed to me by the Connecticut manufacturers I visit. They have lost too much government work to Europe and Asia, and we've got to put this outsourcing to an end. Essentially, decisions about where to spend billions in federal dollars are made in a vacuum - as if Connecticut's economic slump doesn't exist. We can't continue to buy blindly," said Murphy.

Murphy's bill adds momentum to the "Make it in America" initiative, which House leaders are moving through Congress to boost manufacturing jobs. Yesterday, the House passed several manufacturing initiatives, and Murphy was presiding over the House chamber as the votes were taken. The bills approved yesterday:

* Call for a national manufacturing strategy, crucial to job creation and our economic success after losing 4.6 million manufacturing jobs under the Bush Administration;

* Promote clean energy technology exports to create clean energy manufacturing jobs here at home so that America will lead the way in powering the world;

* And establish a commission to tackle the U.S. trade deficit -- which doubled during the Bush Administration and threatens our economic and national security by forcing us to borrow from China, for example.

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