Duncan Hunter Wages Fight for DOD to Buy American

A brave battle was being fought in Congress by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R CA) to strengthen the laws requiring the Department of Defense to purchase American-made products over imports whenever possible.

As Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Hunter appeared to have a good chance to get the measure adopted. However, he faced powerful foes. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, plus other defense firms with close ties, and even plants in China and elsewhere overseas, are fighting Buy American tooth and nail.

The word on Capitol Hill is these companies have lined up John Warner, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to back them. And the White House has let it be known it will veto the provision to protect American workers and smaller companies who favor Buy American.

Rep. Don Manzullo (R. IL) Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, is especially concerned about the fast-fading U.S. machine tool industry. When Ingersoll Inc. shut down tool production in Illinois, that left only one sizeable machine tool maker, in Cincinnati.

Equally alarming is the sharp decline of the titanium producers due to the Pentagon’s policy of buying critical materials offshore. The three primary U.S. titanium producers’ income fell by $163 million last year. One, RTI International, is operating at near one-third capacity.

A current law requires DOD to buy titanium from U.S. firms. But the government issues waivers to bypass the law, a widely used device to keep our trade doors wide open.