Rick Perry Vetoes “Buy American” Bill Approved 145-0 by Texas House

Forcing to buy only american made products...is not the 'murrican way.

 

I don't know exactly what the bill said, but federal 'Buy America' requirement is a HUGE problem on a project on a short timeline. (As nearly all new school construction is. The big jobs must get done over summer break.)

It's one thing to say you must use American products when the quality and cost (Q/C) are equal. For the agencies involved, what do they have to do to document equal Q/C? What if an internet search shows the US made product is higher than the Chinese product when the decision is made. Then when the auditors come in, they look at internet pricing and find the Chinese product for less than the US product. Do they make the agency swap the products out?

What if your agency has many buildings that have standardized on a foreign product that is, or was (when they went to the standard), the best product available. They do that so that maintenance costs are kept down, since staff does not have to be trained to maintain many types of systems, and so that they can stock parts to keep the systems running without having to rent a warehouse.

What about availability? When projects are on a fast track for construction, is there an exception for when there is an eight week delay to get the American products? If you are doing school construction, there is no time for delays.....the schools must absolutely be open at the end of summer break.

With the feds, (and they don't care if price and quality are equal) they demand that, to meet, buy America requirements, the product must be made and assembled in America. Lots of products say made in the US, but have some foreign components, which can cause auditors to show up to see what else is screwed up. For instance, for products with metal in them, to meet Buy America requirements, the metal must be smelted in the US....it can't be imported. It's really easy to buy something that seems to be made in America that has some part that makes it not meet the spec.

If the agency is audited, and they find problems with the Buy America products, they can cancel the grant and take their money and go home. That leaves the agency to find a way to build a project that was not budgeted with local money.

There are many companies that will certify that they meet Buy America standards, but they don't. The agency is then in hot water with the federal grant administrators because they accepted (in good faith) the fraudulent certs for the suppliers. As the agency that receives the grant, the agency is responsible to meet are grant requirements, not the suppliers.

I like the idea of buying American products, but implementing the Buy America laws is a mess, especially if you have short timelines for construction. It's a shame that public agencies can't/won't just buy American products any time it makes sense for the project being built.

Go Blazers

 

Word of his probable veto likely impacted the voting quite heavily. I'm sure that at least a few took this opportunity to vote against their own agenda in order to score political points with centrist voters because they knew it wouldn't make it past the Governor's desk...

 

I wasn't trying to pimp RP. He seems to do a pretty good job, but I don't know that much about him.

I'm saying that laws like the ones proposed are easy to pass, because everyone says, "Yeah....Buy American." What's not to like?

The agencies that have to implement those laws have a tough time with them.

Go Blazers

 

Here is a quote from Perry on this

 

I thought all Texans considers Texas their own sovereignty and not part of the US.