Cuomo Wants Permanent Extension Of Buy American Law

September 17th, 2019

A law that requires road and bridge projects in New York to use structural steel and iron made in the U.S. should receive a permanent extension, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday at the New York City Labor Day Parade.

The current law, first approved in 2017, expires next April. The law applies to construction contracts worth more than $1 million.

“What Buy America has shown, what Buy America says is the steel that we buy, the concrete that we buy, the iron we buy must be American made,” Cuomo said in his remarks.

“That does two things: Number one, it protects American jobs and it grows New York jobs. Manufacturing is now five percent of the New York economy and it makes sure that we have the best quality steel, concrete, and iron going into our infrastructure projects.”

The proposal announced Saturday is a preview of what Cuomo has in store for his budget proposal next year, due to be released in full in January. Cuomo indicated in his remarks that the permanent extension is a priority for him in 2020.

“We are building more than any state in the United States of America. No state is building what we are building here – over $250 billion in infrastructure,” Cuomo said. “And we want to make sure that these projects last 100 years and to do that you have to know that steel, that concrete, that iron is top quality material and you only know that if that is made right here in the good old USA.”

https://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2019/09/cuomo-wants-permanent-extension-of-buy-american-law/?fbclid=IwAR0kT5R1f2xIsBs9L0T0dzcSfudGXY4GzK85RC95b_m2tbuwnPJW_LD0DVY