WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) joined U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and eight of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to put his words into action on rebuilding America’s infrastructure with a plan that has strong Buy American and Hire American standards. The senators called on President Trump to include a series of specific measures in the infrastructure proposal – including the provisions outlined in Murphy’s bipartisan BuyAmerican.gov Act – that would strengthen our economic and national security, and help create jobs. Murphy discussed and heard feedback on ensuring strong Buy American standards in any infrastructure plan at his Transportation Summit in Bridgeport this past Friday.

“As you draft your infrastructure proposal, we encourage you to not only protect existing ‘Buy America’ laws, but to work with Congress to expand these protections and address coverage gaps. Specifically, in order to improve “Buy America” standards and processes, below are a series of provisions that we believe should be included in your infrastructure proposal,” wrote the senators in the letter. “We urge you to embrace the proposal put forward in the BuyAmerican.gov Act that requires all waivers and exceptions undergo a public comment process before they are granted. BuyAmerican.gov would also provide a transparent and streamlined portal for the public to review “Buy America” waivers.

The senators continued, “Like you, we believe that maximizing the use of American-made goods will ‘promote economic and national security and to help stimulate economic growth, create good jobs at decent wages, strengthen our middle class, and support the American manufacturing and defense industrial bases.’ That’s why we called for strong ‘Buy America’ provisions in the Senate Democrats’ Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure, which, in addition to ‘Buy America’ requirements, includes a number of our other important infrastructure priorities.”

In order to protect and grow manufacturing jobs in Connecticut, Murphy has repeatedly called on agencies to be more transparent and compliant with Buy American laws. He has also introduced the American Jobs Matter Act to strengthen existing Buy American standards. 

In addition to Murphy and Baldwin, the letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The full text of the letter is available here.

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