[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              BUY AMERICAN

  (Mr. RYAN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, we are losing our industrial base in 
this country. U.S. manufacturers have laid off 95,000 workers just in 
the month of April; and since July of 2000, we have lost 2.2 million 
manufacturing jobs in this country.
  We have an obligation through the money we spend in this country to 
make sure that our companies are buying American. We need to strengthen 
the Buy American Act and strengthen the Berry amendment, which requires 
the Department of Defense to buy U.S.-made products.
  Currently, we are buying our titanium from Russia to make military 
planes, and we are buying our tires for armored vehicles from France. 
Meanwhile, the average U.S. taxpayer is paying $1,000 a year to fund 
the defense of this country.
  We are willing to stop eating French fries to protest France; but 
where the rubber meets the road, the Department of Defense is out to 
lunch. The sad part is they are probably eating French fries.

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