By Laura Clawson
– Gov. Chris Christie took a break Thursday from his busy schedule of being under federal investigation and fighting open records lawsuits to veto a package of “Buy American” bills the state legislature had sent him. The bills would have strengthened existing laws calling for public contracts to be carried out “where possible” with American-made goods:
The measure, which applied to contracts sufficiently large that they must be put out to bid, required government agencies to buy only products of which at least 50 percent of the cost comes from components “mined, produced or manufactured” in the United States.
The law would allow local and state governments to buy foreign goods in certain scenarios, including if the cost of the U.S.-produced product is more than 20 percent higher than a foreign item, or if U.S.-made products are not available “in reasonable quantity.” In those situations, however, companies would have to apply for a waiver from the law.
But those waivers weren’t enough for Christie, who has consistently looked for giveaways to business in the name of jobs, even as New Jersey job creation has lagged under him. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, existing “Buy American” laws aren’t consistently applied, and:
Consequently, New Jersey has lost more than 180,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001. […]
Manufacturing jobs currently make up 6 percent of New Jersey’s total employment, and the sector represents nearly 8.5 percent of New Jersey’s gross state product. While New Jersey now has 243,100 manufacturing jobs, it remains 63,000 short of its pre-recession level.
Christie is sinking in the polls, with his state’s voters thinking he’s more interested in his presidential ambitions than doing his current job as governor. But vetoing bipartisan “Buy American” legislation probably isn’t what they had in mind when he turned his attention back to New Jersey.
Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/06/1362723/-Christie-vetoes-Buy-American-bills-despite-New-Jersey-s-manufacturing-jobs-deficit
