WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Labor Day is a time to celebrate the hardworking Americans that make up our nation’s workforce — the greatest workforce in the world. We celebrate the men and women who build American infrastructure, develop American natural resources, and manufacture American products. Labor Day also reminds us of the importance of buying American goods.
Thomas Jefferson, our third president, after leaving office remarked, “I have come to a resolution myself as I hope every good citizen will, never again to purchase any article of foreign manufacture which can be had of American make be the difference of price what it may.”
But, this understanding has not always translated into action.
In the past, foreign companies in America’s trade partners enjoyed a lopsided advantage when it came to gaining lucrative government contracts. For instance, a Government Accountability Office report from 2017 found that, in 2010 alone, the United States offered up for foreign competition $837 billion in procurement funds. That’s more than double the amount reported by the next five countries on the list combined.
Since passage of the Buy American Act in 1933, the U.S. government has been required to use a “domestic end product” when purchasing a product for public use, and to use “domestic construction materials” in contracts for construction of public buildings and public works. While this has long been the law, there are, as the figure above illustrates, too many exceptions.
As President Donald Trump noted in 2017, “over the years, these Buy American standards have been gutted by excessive waivers and reckless exemptions. The result has been countless jobs and countless contracts that have been lost to cheap, subsidized, and low-quality foreign goods.”
Deputy U.S. Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella U.S. Department of Labor
To remedy this, on April 18, 2017, the President issued Executive Order 13788. The order unequivocally made it “the policy of the executive branch to buy American.” This means using the power of the executive branch to maximize “the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the United States.”
The weight of this policy change is well-recognized. Even AFL-CIO’s president, Richard Trumka, acknowledged the change, calling it, “a good first step.”
The executive order requires agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), to monitor “scrupulously” compliance with the Buy American requirements. Agencies annually report on their implementation of the order.
DOL recently submitted its annual report to the White House and U.S. Department of Commerce for Fiscal Year 2019. In that report, DOL notes the success it has had in upholding the executive order’s strict requirements.
Zero new exceptions to the Buy American requirements were issued in that year. In Fiscal Year 2018, DOL implemented controls to minimize the use of exceptions. These were reinforced in Fiscal Year 2019 and paid off with this result. This is a remarkable achievement for an agency that purchased over $64.8 million worth of manufactured products during that year. Also, DOL has had zero exceptions through the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2020.
As America recovers from the pandemic and reopens, these actions are all the more important as they support the ability of our companies to stay open or reopen, make products, and help ensure that American workers are able to stay at work or return to work.
In short, the federal government is buying more American products, which means more American jobs and a stronger American economy. Three years ago, the president made a robust and forward-looking commitment to investing in our nation’s workers and goods. At the Department of Labor, we take our role as stewards of taxpayer dollars very seriously. As we celebrate the Labor Day holiday, we are proud to continue our investment in the American worker and the American economy, and look forward to finding new and innovative ways to support America’s workforce moving ahead.
Patrick Pizzella is the U.S. deputy secretary of labor.
Have something to say about this topic?
* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.
* Email general questions, comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.