Boehner Comes Through For China Again-- Defeats Made In America Proposal

China made a really good investment by donating to the Chamber of Commerce when they ran a big international effort to illegally scoop up vast sums of foreign cash to help replace Nancy Pelosi with John Boehner as Speaker. Boehner is the worst patsy for China's economic agenda in Congress (not counting Miss McConnell). And Boehner came through for his Beijing financiers again yesterday.

During a little remarked on debate over a bipartisan bill, H.R. 678, to amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 by authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to contract for the development of small conduit hydropower at Bureau facilities, John Garamendi (D-CA) tried to get the Republicans to include language that would require, when practicable, all materials used for conduit hydropower generation be manufactured in the United States. Sounds simple, right? Not when John Boehner is in charge.

All Republicans were instructed to vote NO and Garamendi's commonsense proposal lost 194-226. Only two Republicans cared enough about American manufacturing jobs to stand up to Boehner and vote with the Democrats-- Walter Jones (R-NC) and Jimmy Duncan (R-TN). The Democrat running for the seat Boehner is occupying, Andy Hounshell, is an Ohio steel worker at a plant in Middletown, in the heart of Boehner's district. "I admire Congressman Garamendi for always putting working people first," Hounshell told us this afternoon. "If he proposal passed there probably would have been good-paying jobs created for American workers right here in western Ohio. I would have voted for the proposal and one of the reasons I'm running is because John Boehner never does. Whose side is he on? There's one way to turn this economy around and spread around the benefits across all levels of society-- creating good-paying jobs. Boehner should have done what those two other Republicans, Jones and Duncan did-- pushed to pass Garamendi's proposal and pushed for more jobs right here in the U.S.A."



“Our first priority as Representatives of the American people must be creating more American jobs,” said Congressman Garamendi. “Over the past two decades, the manufacturing sector has lost nine million jobs-- in large part due to unwise public policy. However, manufacturing is roaring back with approximately half a million new jobs created in the last three years.”

Garamendi added, “We can do so much more by improving education, research, infrastructure, and adapting to changing conditions. The very first step though is simple: when the government invests in public works projects, including hydropower, that money should go toward employing American workers. The businesses are ready, the workers are ready, it’s time for Congress to step up to the plate, so we can Make It In America once again.”