February 5, 2009

President Barack Obama
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Re:  Buy American Provisions:  American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Dear President Obama:

The Coalition for a Prosperous America represents over 2.7 million citizens through its agricultural, manufacturing and organized labor members.  We advocate the reform of trade policy to promote the interests of those who produce in the United States as a major step towards fixing our economy.

We write to urge you to support inclusion of the provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requiring that U.S. taxpayer money on projects be spent on goods produced in the United States to the maximum extent possible. There is considerable room to expand the Buy American provisions without violating our obligations under international law or agreements.  The Senate bill S. 366 does this.

July 29, 2008

    The Coalition for a Prosperous America supports the “Trade Act of 2008”.  The Senate version is S. 3083 was introduced by Senator Brown and co-sponsored Senators Dorgan, Feingold, Casey, and Whitehouse.  The House version is H.R. 6180 was introduced by Representative Michael Michaud and co-sponsored by 67 Representatives (* listed at the end of this statement).