 Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH) appears to be trying to be a little less Tea Party, of late. To wit:...U.S. Representative Chip Cravaack (MN-8) secured legislative provisions that will create U.S. jobs, increase U.S. steel production, and ensure that more American steel product is used in federal transportation construction projects...
The Cravaack 'Buy America' amendment closes loopholes which are exploited by countries like China and Brazil. Specifically, the provision prohibits the 'segmentation' of projects, a tactic used to avoid the 'Buy America' preference. Closing these loopholes ensures that 'Buy America' will be followed and that American jobs and industry will be protected. (Hard-right doctrine, of course, has it that nobody should presume to interfere with markets, by trying to, for example, dictate where steel is bought.)
I don't have a problem, with Chip's effort, in this particular matter. But as for the overall bill, produced by Cravaack's party in the U.S. House: The House of Representatives did not win over many hearts this Valentine's Day with its proposed transportation bill, the misnamed American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7). City dwellers of all political stripes oppose the way it strips public transit of a steady funding stream. Architects, planners and commuters decry its emphasis on easily-congested highways to the detriment of smart growth strategies. Environmentalists and the Episcopal Church oppose back-door efforts to open huge swaths of our country to drilling, including offshore areas and the fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. We should add to this list of opponents anyone who wants to see the United States continue on its fragile path to economic recovery. This bill-along with several of the amendments that have been submitted for attachment to it-seems designed to stop job creation in its tracks and turn many of the good transportation jobs we already have into low-quality ones. This whole mess is also being used to try to ram through approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, and to attack women's health and reproductive choice.
Of course, if all this gets much farther, it's going to be power-slammed right back to where it came from. Which makes Chippy's grand accomplishment seem kind of superfluous. |
