Biden White House Takes Shot at Trump with ‘Make Buy American Real’ Regulation
Sally Kent
President Biden couldn’t help himself from taking a dig at his predecessor while announcing a plan to raise standards for businesses that compete for lucrative federal contracts with U.S.-made products.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Biden will announce on Friday that he is increasing the threshold for would-be federal contractors to use U.S.-made goods from 55% to 75% by 2029, according to senior administration officials. The threshold will be 60% this year, 65% in 2024, and peak five years later to provide businesses time to adjust their supply chains to depend more heavily on American parts or to move their in-house manufacturing facilities stateside.
“You may recall the previous administration made big claims on how they would restore America’s industrial might,” a senior administration official told reporters. “That turned out to be just rhetoric.”
“President Trump’s promises went nowhere and manufacturing continued to limp along,” she continued. “In the end, after his botched pandemic response, we ended up with 182,000 fewer manufacturing jobs by the end of his four years in office.”
A new Small Business Administration manufacturing office within its federal contracting division will help with the “Make Buy American Real” rule transition process, according to an official. Agencies will work with the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to identify and develop American sources for government needs as well.