WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed his amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that will increase Congressional oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) by requiring more transparency about DoD’s overuse of Buy American Act waivers through the “overseas use” loophole in the law. This Buy American Act loophole currently allows federal agencies to use American taxpayer dollars to purchase goods or services from foreign companies—more than $5 billion worth last year—to the detriment of American businesses.
“I’m thrilled there was bipartisan support for my amendment to toughen Buy American rules at the Pentagon,” said Murphy. “By passing my amendment, the Senate has taken the commonsense stand that American taxpayer dollars should be spent on American-made goods when possible. This will keep us safer and help create jobs in the United States instead of overseas.”
Murphy continued, “This amendment is a great step forward, but there’s more to do. I will continue listening to Connecticut manufacturers and keep working hard to help our state’s hardworking men and women.”
As part of a continued effort to call attention to the billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of Buy American waivers used by the federal government, Murphy released a report revealing DoD granted a staggering 307,123 waivers and exceptions to the Buy American Act over the last 8 years, and spent over $176.8 billion of taxpayers’ dollars on goods manufactured by foreign companies. Murphy’s report emphasized that even as DoD’s reliance on waivers overall has decreased, the number of waivers used for shipbuilding and aerospace products – two of Connecticut’s most important manufacturing sectors – remains steady. This combined $5.4 billion wasted opportunity in these two sectors, which could have had an outsized positive impact on Connecticut, has instead cost Connecticut jobs.
