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Rep. Larry Kissell: This week in Washington
Story Date: 5/25/2012
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Source: U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell (N.C.-8), 5/11/12
It is far too rare these days that I get to report good news to you from Washington. Today, I can. I've been working to eliminate a loophole that was going to allow Afghan army and police uniforms which are purchased with your tax dollars to be made with materials made in China, North and South Korea and Vietnam, skirting the Berry Amendment which requires that military textiles be made in the U.S. It is unacceptable that people in our own government have circumvented the Buy American provisions that our nation once embraced, provisions I’ve made a point to stand up for and advance. I’m pleased to report that this week we made major progress in closing this loophole and standing up for American industries.
The House Armed Services Committee met this week for consideration of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation that determines the levels by which we will fund the military. This presented an opportunity to help fix this major problem and reiterate to both Congress and the Department of Defense that Buy American should continue to be a top priority. In the weeks leading up to this, I’ve made phone call after phone call and met with military officials to attempt to determine why this loophole exists, who is responsible for it and how it can be fixed. I decided that an amendment to the NDAA to fix this problem immediately was the best option.
After bringing the draft of my amendment to the committee, it became clear they were not supportive of our efforts. The Department of Defense sent along a message that they “strongly opposed” our language to close this loophole, stating that they supported these exceptions from Buy American. Committee staff from both sides of the aisle asked me not to introduce it, as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the committee planned to vote against it. As the committee met late Wednesday night, just after midnight as I was about to present the amendment, one final staffer made an attempt to talk me out of it, asking, “Are you sure you want to introduce this?” “Absolutely,” I replied.
As I introduced the amendment before the committee, I spoke about my 27 years in textiles. I spoke about how our part of the world was hard hit a decade before the recession set in by late 2008. I spoke about how bad trade deals and misguided Washington policies just like this cost us job after job in textiles and furniture and throughout our rich manufacturing sector. These are the precise issues that led me to serve the people of this district, and they’re the same issues that I have worked on from the very beginning of that service. And I will continue to fight against these measures that hurt American workers and businesses.
As the vote ended and the clerk read the final vote tally, applause broke out through the committee room. The Chairman kindly asked the clerk to repeat the total. Our amendment had passed 41-20, and would be included in the final House bill to fund the brave men and women of our military. At a time when we constantly see the ways in which government works against American businesses and manufacturers (who pay the taxes that buy the Afghan uniforms) and how they are being kept at a constant disadvantage in contracts just like these, it’s important to highlight the ways in which we can bring an end to this unfairness. Folks in our part of the world want nothing more than a fair shot to be successful, government to get off their backs and to show common sense stewardship of their hard-earned tax dollars. This amendment helped to undo a good bit of that form of bad government, and I was proud to see it pass.
Far too often, we hear about bad legislation and 1,000 page bills that sneak through Congress in the dark of night. This time, our common sense, one-page bill was introduced and passed a little after 2 a.m., but this bill will actually benefit our workers and advance our push for American jobs and revitalization of the textile industry. While some of my colleagues opposed the measure, many of them saw that the issue was simple. If taxpayer money is being spent, it should promote U.S. industries and American workers. China already owns far too much of our debt, our military shouldn’t also finance their government-owned textile mills.
Lately, we’ve seen Congress focus more on playing politics and laying blame than actually finding solutions for the challenges we still face. In my opinion, it’s beyond time that we replace government inaction with a government in action—working tirelessly each and every day for the American people. I’m proud we were able to win another victory for the textile industry and American businesses as a whole, and I’ll keep my focus on common sense solutions that help put folks here at home back to work.
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