On Tuesday, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) voiced its support for a new amendment to the existing Buy America requirements, which has been passed in the Senate. The Brown-Merkley amendment--named after Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Jeff Merkley--will ensure the proper enforcement of the Buy America standards in federal surface transportation programs.
President and CEO Thomas J. Gibson stated, "For 30 years, the Buy America statute has required that all iron, steel and other manufactured goods used in federally-funded highway and mass transit projects be produced in the United States...Unfortunately, in recent years some recipients of federal funding have taken advantage of a loophole in the law to avoid using American-made steel by ‘segmenting' a project into several separate contracts so that federal funds could be used on some parts of the project, while foreign steel is used on other parts of the same project." The Brown-Merkley amendment will close that loophole. The legislation also increases transparency in the Buy America waiver process.