The following press release was received from 8th District Congressman Don Manzullo:

Manzullo: U.S. House, Senate Should Buy American

House approves bill requiring Legislative Branch to Purchase American-made goods

[WASHINGTON]  U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL), a leader in the battle to force federal agencies to comply with Buy American laws, voted today to extend those laws to Congress so that members of the House and Senate must Buy American when purchasing products for their offices.

Don Manzullo speaks with a young couple after his MCC Health Care Town Hall Meeting last summer.

The legislation, the Congressional Made in America Promise Act (H.R. 2039), passed the U.S. House by a wide bipartisan vote of 371 to 36 today. Manzullo, co-chair of the House Manufacturing Caucus, was a co-sponsor of the bill.

Under current law, the federal government’s Executive Branch gives a preference to purchase American made products, with certain exceptions.

However, the Legislative Branch has been exempt from that law.

H.R. 2039 extends the Buy American rules to Congress and requires any product bearing the official seal of the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, or the U.S. Congress to be made in America, unless those goods are of unreasonable cost, are used outside of the United States, or are valued under $2,500.

“I strongly support this legislation because any time American tax dollars are spent they should focus on creating American jobs, not more jobs overseas,” Manzullo said. “For the last several years, I have continuously fought the Department of Defense and other agencies to force them to follow our Buy American laws that require them to purchase products in America. In the past, I have introduced legislation to strengthen the Buy American procurement laws because our tax dollars should not be used to create or retain jobs overseas. These rules should extend to any federal entity that spends taxpayer dollars, including Members of Congress.”

Manzullo has led Congressional efforts to strengthen American manufacturing and has successfully passed several bills to strengthen the Buy American Act. In 2001, as Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, he forced the Defense Department to cancel several foreign-based contracts for Army berets and instead rebid the contracts for American-based firms.