Not A Peep-- Or A Tweet-- Out Of Ole Man Trump As Ryan Deletes The Buy American Provision In The Infrastructure Bill

Wisconsin's deadly job killing duo, Grothman and Ryan

Sometimes when Congress wants to pass embarrassing legislation they're not eager for opponents or just constituents to track down, they give it an innocuous or misleading name. It happens constantly and it happened on Thursday just before the Republicans adjourned the House for the year. The last vote of the year was on S.612, John Cornyn's (and, in the House, Henry Cuellar's) "bill to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the 'George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse.' It passed 360-61, with 17 Republicans and 44 Democrats voting against it. Democratic Leadership didn't whip the bill one way or the other and Hoyer voted for it, while Pelosi voted against it. Neither of them was thinking about Laredo's courthouse or about the legacy of George Kazen, a Democratic south Texas senior district judge (and FISA Court judge).



The bill was reported out of the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee looking as innocent as it went in. It takes 90 seconds to read, and triggers no alarm bells. Earlier in the day, however, the House voted on H.Res.949, "providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2028) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes, and providing for consideration of the bill (S. 612) to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the "George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse." All the Republicans voted for that and all but one mangy old Blue Dog, Jim Costa of California, voted against it.

So why did 44 Democrats vote against the bill (including Pelosi)? Did you catch that line in the enabling legislation about "making appropriations for energy and water development?" That has nothing to do with the courthouse. But it's what that bill was really all about-- funding water-related infrastructure funding. When I asked Alan Grayson why he voted for it, in fact, he said he had to because there was a lot of really badly-needed money in it for crucial Everglades projects related to environmental catastrophes on both of Florida's coasts.

The first person I reached out to about the Democrats who voted no was Wisconsin Congressman, Mark Pocan, one of the union movement's most ferocious supporters on Capitol Hill. "It is unthinkable," he told us, "why Congressional Republican Leadership removed the permanent 'Buy America' requirements that was voted on and passed by the Senate in the water infrastructure bill. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state like the Neenah Foundry are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that help ship jobs overseas."

Neenah workers are represented by both moderate Republican Reid Ribbble, who's retiring in a week, and bizarre anti-union fanatic Glenn Grothman, who, alas, isn't. (The city of Neenah itself sits just north of Oshkosh in Grothman's district but many of the employees also live in Appleton which is the adjacent city and in Ribble's district.) On their website, the company makes it clear where they stand: "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was enacted to stimulate the American economy by supporting American jobs. A 'Buy American' provision in the Act mandates that 'none of the funds ... made available by this Act may be used for a ... public building or public work unless all of the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States.' Millions of Americans-- such as those working at NEI's seven manufacturing plants-- rely upon this stimulus funding to protect their jobs and their families."

The district in nowhere near Paul Ryan's district way to the south, although I'm guessing factory workers in Janesville, Kenosha and Racine aren't too happy with his little maneuver yesterday. Reid Ribble had the decency to show up and vote against it along with Pocan. Grothman, who would like to abolish unions entirely, was delighted to vote against "Buy American." And by the way, the Wisconsin counties most heavily impacted by this, all went for Trump this year-- Outagamie (54.2%), Calumet (58.1%), and Winnebago (50.6%).

Some desperate voters-- and not just in Wisconsin where these two photos were taken-- reached, in a really stupid way if you ask me, for greener pastures and actually voted for Trump. They will be learning their lesson over and over and over for the next 4 years.

UPDATE: Pocan Asks Trump To Walk The Walk

Friday, Rep. Pocan drafted and sent a letter to Trump asking him to live up to his campaign promises about protecting American workers from the excesses of GOP extremists. He was joined by 19 colleagues in urging Trump "to strongly enforce Buy America provisions in government procurement policies and promote Buy America rules in legislation advanced during your administration."

He told the press that if Trump "is concerned with livelihood of American workers, he should take steps to ensure the Buy America Act is strongly and meaningfully enforced. Last week, House Republican leadership removed a provision to permanently require American steel and iron be used in our country’s water infrastructure. It is unthinkable for House Republicans to eliminate these Buy America requirements after they were voted on and passed by the Senate. President-elect Trump can and should ensure that enforcement of the Act is strengthened. It is his duty to stand up to Congressional Republican leadership when the allow taxpayer dollars to go to companies that ship jobs overseas. Wisconsin has one of the highest percentages of its workforce employed in the manufacturing sector. Foundries across the state are scratching their heads wondering why Republicans would want to send taxpayer dollars to companies that ship jobs overseas. House Republicans claim to care about keeping jobs here in America, yet consistently rally around legislation that costs our country jobs. I hope President-elect Trump will ensure what happened to the Water Resources bill doesn’t happen again- we need a firm commitment from both parties to buy American."