The Honorable Peter R. Orszag
Director, Office of Management and Budget
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
1650 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20503
Dear Director Orszag:
As the Administration seeks to implement the spending provisions and specifically the transportation investments included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, I urge you to ensure that the Buy America requirements included in the new law are strictly enforced.
TTD and our affiliated unions have long made the case that taxpayer dollars spent on transportation projects should be used to purchase U.S.-made materials, manufactured goods, and equipment to create jobs and help restore our declining U.S. manufacturing base. This policy makes sense in any environment but is imperative in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades. In fact, last week the 32 affiliated unions of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) unanimously adopted the attached policy statement insisting that strong Buy America requirements are applied to all programs that invest federal resources in our transportation system and equipment. I also urge you to consider the views submitted in the AFL-CIO’s March 4 memorandum to your office.
If you have any questions about TTD’s position or the attached policy statement, please contact me directly or Brian Lombardozzi at 202/628-9262.
Sincerely,
Edward Wytkind
President
Attachment
cc: Julia Wise, Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Albert Matera, Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer, United States General Services Administration
Linda Neilson, Defense Procurement and AcquisitionPolicy,United StatesDepartment of Defense
