Washington, D.C. - Continuing his ongoing effort to bring jobs back to North Carolina, Congressman Heath Shuler (D-Waynesville) supported a number of bills this week designed to help American manufacturers and promote American products.
“One of the things that inspired me to run for Congress in 2006 was meeting a single mom who was struggling to feed her kids after she lost her job at a textile factory that moved overseas,” said Rep. Shuler, a member of the House Buy American Caucus, a bipartisan group working to stop the trend of sending American manufacturing jobs overseas and promote American manufacturing. “Unfair trade agreements have closed too many factories and sent thousands of good-paying jobs to foreign countries. This amendment will give a much-needed boost to our manufacturing base and put Americans back to work.”
According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, 2.4 million U.S. jobs were lost or displaced due to trade with China between 2001 and 2008. The National Manufacturing Strategy Act (H.R. 4692), the Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act (H.R. 5156), and the End the Trade Deficit Act (H.R. 1875) passed the House this week with strong bipartisan support. They aim to boost the domestic manufacturing sector, assist green energy companies, and improve our trade deficit. Since December of 2000, the U.S. has run a $575 billion trade deficit in textiles and apparel, according to the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition.
Congressman Shuler also worked to incorporate the priority of promoting American jobs into H.R. 5850, the Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2011. Since the passage of the Buy American Act in 1933, the United States government has been required by law to prefer U.S.-made products in its purchases. However, loopholes and inconsistencies often allow for importation that indirectly funds jobs overseas. Yesterday, Shuler introduced an amendment, with his colleague Congressman Larry Kissell (D-NC), which, if ruled in order, would have mandated that any textile and apparel products contracted by the U.S. Department of Transportation be manufactured in the United States with 100 percent U.S. inputs.
“We have high-quality textile and apparel clothing companies throughout the U.S., many in North Carolina, who should be supported and bolstered by government programs and contracts,” said Rep. Shuler. “We have lost enough jobs to China. I am going to continue to do everything I can to make sure taxpayer money does not go to pay workers in other countries. We need these jobs on American soil.”
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