"Buy American" just sounds good, patriotic! It sounds like the right thing to do, especially at a time when buying anything made in America is a challenge.
President Obama is heading to Peoria, Ill., tomorrow to talk up his economic stimulus package that's heading back to the House and Senate for a final vote.
Peoria is where Caterpillar is headquartered, one of the companies making noise about a "buy American" provision in the stimulus bill. It states infrastructure projects funded by the stimulus package use only U-S made steel, iron and manufactured goods. Caterpillar fears the provision would lead other countries, working on their own stimulus packages, to turn inward too; a move that would hurt Caterpillar since as much as 80- percent of the company's products manufactured in Illinois are exported.
But the Alliance for American Manufacturing says American manufacturing jobs are going "bye bye" if Congress doesn'tinclude a "buy American" provision. The group is running this ad in the Peoria Journal Star Thursday, just in time for the president's visit.
Manufacturing lost 800,000 jobs last year, that's 1/3 of the nation's job loss total. At a time when Americans need to get back to work, AAM argues giving business to American companies with the ability to supply infrastructure projects only makes sense. The group's director, Scott Paul, says it's about "protecting taxpayer investments."
We'll get the president's take on how the economy and stimulus package plays in Peoria, Thursday.