Thread: Christie vetoes N.J. 'Buy American' legislation

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf...gislation.html

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a package of legislation that would have required public contractors and agencies in New Jersey to buy American-made products and raw materials when possible.

Christie in his veto statement said the legislation would "constrain purchasing decisions by setting artificial thresholds of reasonableness based almost exclusively on price. Subject to few exceptions, any goods or materials sourced for any State contract would have to be made in the United States."

In total, Christie today vetoed five similar "Buy American" bills. The most far-reaching (S1811) would require vendors for public agencies, including public colleges and universities, to buy American-made products and raw materials to fulfill contracts, though it would allow them to get waivers if they are not available domestically. The vendors could also get a waiver if the domestic products cost at least 20 percent more than foreign products. New Jersey law already requires American goods be purchased "where possible" for public works contracts, local public contracts, state construction contracts, and local schools contracts. This bill would have expanded and strengthened that requirement, and would require any company seeking a waiver to notify the agency, make the information public and undergo a 30-day comment period.
Christie said the bills would discourage international companies from opening in New Jersey and add burdensome reporting requirements.
"Rather than helping Americans, these bills will simply drive up the price of doing business, and threaten job creation," he wrote. "Building economic walls around our State, or our Nation, will not improve the lives of our citizens."

The legislation angered Canada's consul general for the region, John Prato, who told an Assembly committee in December that it would have "dire consequences for the trading relationship between Canada and the state."

But state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), a sponsor, called the veto "a lost opportunity to help create jobs and to support domestic businesses."

"The 'Made In America' bills are more than an expression of economic patriotism, they could have been an effective way of boosting the state's economy," he said in a statement. "The recovery in New Jersey has lagged behind other states so we should be doing all we can to generate economic growth and to promote economic opportunity."

The other four bills in the package would seek to apply similar provisions to four bi-state agencies: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The Delaware River Port Authority, The Delaware River and Bay Authority, and The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. But even if Christie had signed those bills, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York would have had to approve identical legislation for it to take effect.

"It's inexcusable for the governor to turn his back on American manufacturers and American workers by refusing to sign this bipartisan legislation," New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech said in a statement. "These bills would have strengthened Buy American legislation already on the books and put pressure on bi-state agencies to follow suit rather than awarding billions of dollars in steel and other contracts to foreign makers."

Christie in his veto statement said the legislation would "constrain purchasing decisions by setting artificial thresholds of reasonableness based almost exclusively on price. Subject to few exceptions, any goods or materials sourced for any State contract would have to be made in the United States."

No! It is the opposite. Purchasing decisions would first be made by place of origin, the United States, then by price within that supply perimeter, and only IF the cost was 20% above a foreign produced item could the state purchase imported goods. Why would you say this makes decisions based "almost exclusively on price", when its almost exclusively on location of origin??!!

Christie said the bills would discourage international companies from opening in New Jersey and add burdensome reporting requirements. "Rather than helping Americans, these bills will simply drive up the price of doing business, and threaten job creation," he wrote. "Building economic walls around our State, or our Nation, will not improve the lives of our citizens."

Oh good grief, it is the complete opposite, again. If companies want US to purchase their products, then they by and large should produce them here and if they can't sell by law here without producing here, they'll open a plant and become a US company so they can sell that portion of their products here, like they should, and rightly so.

"You make it over there, you sell it over there."

Protecting NJ or other domestic tax revenues from foreign trade predators is NOT "building walls around" anyone or anything, it's the simple meeting of a public service obligation to ensure that tax revenues generated by Americans remains in the US to all extents possible. Taxing the pockets of NJ workers and then sending their tax money out of the country on state purchases to line the pockets of some Mexican or Chinese sweat shop owner, makes no sense at all.

Protected trade always improved the lives of US citizens, always. Put your knife and fork down for an hour or two, Chris, and compare the numbers during protected trade periods and now when we are in the tragic grasp of free trade treason treaties and idiot politicians like you.

Republicans believe in robust international trade but we've also always been protected traders, what today people refer to as fair trade, because this is how you manage trade balances and generate surpluses instead of deficits to protect our own economy, money supply, workforce and investors.

New Jersey's legislature was right on this one, Chris, and you were wrong, very very wrong. Shame on you!

Buying essentially on price caused a contract to be given to a Chinese company, to supply steel for a new span of the Oakland-East Bay bridge. When some of the components were defective, California had to send engineers to China, to help the Chinese produce to specifications. So a Chinese company learned, and American workers had to stand by and watch others prosper.

We do have to adapt to trade requirements, but IMO there's nothing wrong with favoring domestic producers, especially when we're looking at chronic unemployment in manufacturing.

Outsourcing really hurt the poorest Americans, because labor union contracts required the last hired to be the first fired. How much is it worth, to keep Americans working?
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Most states have lowest and best bid requirements, and for those who don't, they should, which then dictates that purchasing agents for the state understand the quality and production specifications of the products and services they are authorized to purchase. States requiring domestic products are the states who will lead our nation out of this travesty and set an example for the rest. All states should require all domestic production and services, regardless of the price, for all state purchases. These purchases are too important and too large to have foreign products and services with no accountability and no economic return on the expenditure for Americans for Americans not to be the sole suppliers, providers and contractors of all government purchases.