A recent report from the Pentagon’s inspector general [IG] has concluded the U.S. military is ignoring domestic preference laws known as the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment. As reported by AllGov in its article Half of Navy Contracts Violate Buy American Rules:
The Buy American Act mandates the federal government give preference to products made in the U.S. when it makes bulk purchases of more than $3,000. Similarly, the Berry Amendment says the Pentagon can’t buy products such as clothing and textiles outside of the U.S. when the purchases are at least $150,000.
The IG, however, found that nearly half of the Navy contracts it reviewed violated the Berry Amendment, and a third of another sampling of contracts violated the Buy American Act. Many of the foreign-sourced items purchased were hand and measuring tools, such as crescent wrenches, according to the report. Another item that came to the IG’s attention was foreign-made synthetic fiber to be used in bulletproof vests.
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Spencer Brignac of the Project on Government Oversight noted that a previous IG report revealed that a review of 50 U.S. Army contracts found about half of them violated the Buy American Act.
The GOP wants to talk about protecting American jobs and deporting immigrants who are working them, yet they allow our military to violate federal law buying overseas products when they can be purchased domestically. Again, it’s the typical political hypocrisy we have come to expect.
