AEM Expresses Concern about Stimulus

January 30, 2009 – The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has expressed its concern about provisions in the economic stimulus package in Congress. Dennis Slater, AEM president, has written a letter to the President and one to the Senate leadership. 

As the letter states, the House bill includes a “Buy America” requirement aimed at limiting the use of non-American manufactured steel and iron in any infrastructure project. The bill just passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee took this misguided policy one step further, expanding the “Buy America” provision to include all manufactured goods not made in the U.S. … Further expansion of the “Buy America” requirement to include all manufactured products will be disastrous for American industrial equipment manufacturers, who produce much equipment in the U.S., and also manufacture and assemble equipment in other American-owned facilities around the world. …. Our members’ high-quality machines are critical to delivering the “shovel ready” jobs needed to meet your objective to “keep the U.S. economy strong and competitive.”

 

Slater said that with such a huge infrastructure task ahead, additional restrictions will delay the promise to the American people to maintain their jobs and put the country back on the path to economic recovery. And critically, such “Buy America” restrictions will lead to certain retaliation by trading partners, exacerbating an already dire situation by obstructing U.S. manufacturers’ access to world markets.

AEM noted that U.S. law already has “Buy America” mandates in place, and there is no need for expansion. 

 

For more information and to download the letters in their entirety, click here.