Rep. Sutton Votes to Require Congress and Department of Homeland Security to Buy American

Press Release

Today, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) voted on legislation to require Congress to Buy American when buying products for use by the House and Senate, and for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to buy American clothing, tents and other textile products to be used by DHS. Additionally, all products bearing a Congressional seal must be "Made in America."

"Americans expect the federal government to Buy American - to use their tax dollars to support American manufacturing and American workers," said Rep. Sutton. "These two bills are a common-sense part of the Make It in America agenda, because taxpayer money ought to be invested back into our economy to create jobs for hard-working Americans and to get our factories humming again."

The Congressional Made in America Promise Act Requires Congress to buy goods and services made by American workers for the first time since "Buy American" rules were instituted for federal agencies under President Roosevelt in 1933, including tighter Buy American requirements for items with the seal of Congress, the House or Senate.

The DHS legislation, the Berry Amendment Extension Act, bars the DHS from buying clothing, tents and other products that are not "grown, reprocessed, reused or produced" in America. For the last 60 years, the Berry Amendment has served our nation well requiring the Defense Department and the Coast Guard to buy a range of domestically produced or grown items with 100% U.S. content, and today we are voting to cover the DHS.

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