A bridge too far?

By Jim Hightower

OtherWords

Listening at last to his inner FDR, President Barack Obama is going straight at the Know-Nothing/Do-Nothing Republicans in Congress.

At a rally in September on a bridge connecting Rep. John Boehner’s state of Ohio to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky, Obama challenged the two GOP leaders to back his plan for repairing and improving our country’s deteriorating infrastructure. “Help us rebuild this bridge,” he shouted out to Boehner and McConnell. “Help us rebuild America. Help us put this country back to work.”

Yes, let’s do it.

However, in addition to the usual recalcitrance of reactionary Republican leaders, another impediment stands in the way of success: many of the infrastructure jobs that would be created could end up in China.

Trap door

That’s due to a trap door that was built into the Buy American Act. The 1933 law gives preference to U.S. companies bidding on major infrastructure projects, but allows the general contractor to opt out if the difference in U.S. and foreign bids is significant.

Thus the $7-billion reconstruction of the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland is in the hands of the low bidder, a state-subsidized Chinese company.

While there are Americans involved in this huge project, the design, engineering, pre-fab tasks, supervision, and other work — as well as profits — are going to China. California is deprived of the wages, taxes, and consumer spending it would’ve gotten from 3,000 jobs that went overseas.

Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, public speaker and editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown. He wrote this for OhterWords, a project of the Policy Institute.