Ina small nod in the direction of workers at American steel mills and fabricators,and at other businesses manufacturing products for road building and masstransit use, Congress tightened up “buy American” requirements on projectspartly paid for with federal tax dollars. The new bill eliminates one loopholein the buy American laws, which allowed use of foreign produced steel andmanufactured products on portions of construction if a major project was splitinto multiple contracts or awarded in phases. Under the MAP-21 bill extendingthe Highway Trust Fund for 27 months, if any one of the split up contracts hasfederal money in it, all of the related products must also abide by the buyAmerican rules.
Andthe new legislation also requires mass transit projects to publish a detailedexplanation, with a public comment period, before waiving buy American rulesfor mass transit construction contracts. In past years, this waiver publicationand comment requirement only applied to highway construction. Now, citizenswill be able to know ahead of contract bidding why local transit officials findit necessary to use foreign made materials and products in their constructionjobs. Seems like Congress is at long last wising up to the need to keeptaxpayer funded job creation on American shores.
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