President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure law mandates U.S. projects use only American-made goods and services, but officials say that is impossible because they cannot find U.S. suppliers to abide by it.
It was a good idea, but poor in its ability to execute, experts told The Washington Post.
"They're trying to spur industry," American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Engineering Director Jim McDonnell told the Post. "But it seems they're trying to push out too much, too quickly."
Biden hyped the initiative at his State of the Union address earlier this month, but his "blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives at home" is merely delaying getting the infrastructure projects in action, according to the Post.
Also, the Post reported post-President Donald Trump, the U.S. trade deficit of manufactured goods reached an all-time U.S. high under Biden at 4.7%.
U.S. businesses bought $1.2 trillion more than they sold to foreign entities, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
The $25 trillion U.S. economy is just too big for Biden's Buy America plan to really put a dent in it, EPI economist Rob Scott told the Post.
"To be honest, the effects are going to be at best marginal," he said. "Government — you think it's big — but it's really a small percentage of the overall total. The question is: How do you move the dial on private sector purchases?"
But Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul, whose nonprofit is backed by the steel industry and steelworkers' union, is annoyed by Buy America complainers.
"A lot of the complaints about this from state and local officials and contractors — they act way too much like helpless children," Paul told the Post. "It's annoying and frustrating."
Other experts told the Post Biden's plan looks good politically, but is not able to be executed, particularly in the near term.
"It's the realities of it that are challenging," American Road & Transportation Builders Association general counsel Rich Juliano told the Post. "Our membership supports Buy America. That's our policy. We would like nothing better. The issue is the practicality of this in the short term."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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