U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

59–010 

" ! SENATE 

114TH CONGRESS

2d Session 

REPORT

2016

114–221 

Calendar No. 381 

REINFORCING AMERICAN-MADE PRODUCTS 

ACT OF 2015 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

ON

S. 1518 

MARCH 7, 2016.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas ED MARKEY, Massachusetts 

DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska CORY BOOKER, New Jersey 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

DEAN HELLER, Nevada JOE MANCHIN, West Virginia 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado GARY PETERS, Michigan 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

NICK ROSSI, Staff Director 

ADRIAN ARNAKIS, Deputy Staff Director 

REBECCA SEIDEL, General Counsel 

KIM LIPSKY, Democratic Staff Director 

CHRISTOPHER DAY, Democratic Deputy Staff Director 

CLINT ODOM, Democratic General Counsel 


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Calendar No. 381 

114TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 114–221 

REINFORCING AMERICAN-MADE PRODUCTS ACT OF 2015 

MARCH 7, 2016.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. THUNE, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1518] 

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to 

which was referred the bill (S. 1518) to make exclusive the authority of the Federal Government to regulate the labeling of products 

made in the United States and introduced in interstate or foreign 

commerce, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that 

the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of S. 1518, the Reinforcing American-Made Products 

Act of 2015, is to ensure that there is a single national standard 

for labeling products as ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in America.’’ 

BACKGROUND AND NEEDS

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) currently 

regulates claims of U.S. origin under its general authority to act 

against deceptive acts and practices under section 5 of the Federal 

Trade Commission Act (FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45). Under section 

320933 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 

1994 (15 U.S.C. 45a), products bearing the ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ or 

‘‘Made in America’’ label are required to do so in a manner consistent with the decisions and orders of the FTC. Since 1997, the 

FTC has enforced a stringent national labeling standard that requires products marked ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in America’’ 


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1 ‘‘Made in U.S.A.’’ and Other U.S. Origin Claims, Federal Trade Commission, 62 Fed. Reg. 

63,756 (Dec. 2, 1997). 

to be ‘‘all or virtually all’’ produced in the United States.1 Under 

this standard, marketers labeling or advertising a product as 

‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ must have a reasonable basis to support the 

claim. The Commission considers three factors in evaluating 

whether ‘‘all or virtually all’’ of a product is made in the United 

States: (1) whether the final assembly or processing of the product 

took place in the United States; (2) the portion of the total manufacturing cost of the product that is attributable to U.S. parts and 

processing; and (3) how far removed from the finished product any 

foreign content is. 

In 2011, the California Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit to proceed wherein plaintiffs challenged a company’s ‘‘Made in the 

U.S.A.’’ claim under the State’s unfair competition law and false 

advertising law, effectively establishing a State standard that diverged from the FTC standard. California later codified its own 

‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ standard, under which a product can bear the 

‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ label in California if 95 percent of its contents 

are domestically sourced. If a company can certify that some components are unavailable in the United States, then a 90 percent 

threshold applies. These divergent standards raise interstate commerce concerns for manufacturers. Most manufacturers do not have 

the ability to control where their products are sold because they 

sell their goods wholesale to national and international distributors. The products are then shipped to retailers throughout the 

country. Because of this market reality, many U.S. manufacturers 

eligible to use the ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ mark in 49 out of 50 States 

and the rest of the world cannot label their products as such because they may ultimately reach the more restrictive California 

market. 

S. 1518 would amend the Federal product labeling statute to ensure that the current authority of the FTC to enforce ‘‘Made in the 

U.S.A.’’ labeling rules preempts State requirements. This national 

standard would allow manufacturers with ‘‘all or virtually all’’ 

parts of their product produced in the United States to use the 

label, and would help consumers decide whether their choice to 

purchase products marked as ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ supports U.S. 

manufacturing and jobs. 

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS

S. 1518 would amend section 320933 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, (15 U.S.C. 45a), to include 

an ‘‘Effect on State Law’’ subsection that states that the national 

‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ standard supersedes any provisions of any 

State law relating to the extent to which a product is introduced, 

delivered for introduction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale in 

interstate or foreign commerce with a ‘‘Made in the U.S.A’’ or 

‘‘Made in America’’ label. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Senator Lee introduced this bill on June 4, 2015, with Senators 

Capito, Fischer, Collins, and King as co-sponsors. On November 18, 

2015, in an open Executive Session, the Committee considered the 


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bill. The Committee, by voice vote, ordered S. 1518 to be reported 

favorably. 

ESTIMATED COSTS

In accordance with paragraph 11(a) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate and section 403 of the Congressional Budget 

Act of 1974, the Committee provides the following cost estimate, 

prepared by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 1518—Reinforcing American-Made Products Act of 2015 

S. 1518 would preempt state laws that establish standards under 

which a ‘‘Made in America’’ or ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ label may be 

affixed to a product. The bill would reiterate that the Federal 

Trade Commission (FTC) is solely responsible for developing and 

enforcing those standards. 

Based on information from the FTC, CBO expects that implementing S. 1518 would not affect the workload or enforcement activities of the agency, and therefore, would have no effect on the 

federal budget. 

Enacting S. 1518 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting S. 1518 would not increase net direct spending or onbudget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2026. 

By preempting state laws, S. 1518 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA). At least one state, California, currently has a law setting 

its own standards for such labels. S. 1518 would preempt that law. 

The costs, if any, to the state of complying with the mandate would 

not exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA ($154 million in 2016, adjusted annually for inflation.) 

S. 1518 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in 

UMRA. 

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Susan Willie (for 

federal costs) and Leo Lex (for intergovernmental mandates). The 

estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 

Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT

In accordance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides the following evaluation of the regulatory impact of the legislation, as reported: 

NUMBER OF PERSONS COVERED

S. 1518, as reported, would not impose any new regulatory requirements on businesses. 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Enactment of this legislation is not expected to have an adverse 

impact on the Nation’s economy. 


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PRIVACY

S. 1518 would not have an adverse impact on the personal privacy of individuals. 

PAPERWORK

S. 1518 would not measurably increase paperwork requirements 

for most businesses. 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

In compliance with paragraph 4(b) of rule XLIV of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides that no provisions 

contained in the bill, as reported, meet the definition of congressionally directed spending items under the rule. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title. 

This section would designate the bill’s short title as the ‘‘Reinforcing American-Made Products Act of 2015.’’ 

Section 2. Exclusivity of Federal authority to regulate labeling of 

products made in the United States and introduced in interstate and foreign commerce. 

This section would amend section 320933 of the Violent Crime 

Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (15 U.S.C. 45a) to include an ‘‘Effect on State Law’’ subsection that states that the 

‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ labeling provisions shall supersede any provisions of the law of any State relating to the extent to which a product is introduced, delivered for introduction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale in interstate or foreign commerce with a ‘‘Made in the 

U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in America’’ label, or the equivalent thereof, in 

order to represent that such product was in whole or substantial 

part of domestic origin. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as 

reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in black brackets, new material is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

VIOLENT CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT 

OF 1994 

[Public Law 103–322; 108 Stat. 1796] 

SEC. 320933. LABELS ON PRODUCTS. 

[15 U.S.C. 45a] 

øTo the extent¿ 

(a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent any person introduces, delivers 

for introduction, sells, advertises, or offers for sale in commerce a 

product with a ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in America’’ label, 

or the equivalent thereof, in order to represent that such product 

was in whole or substantial part of domestic origin, such label shall 


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be consistent with decisions and orders of the Federal Trade Commission issued pursuant to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. This section only applies to such labels. øNothing in this 

section¿ Except as provided in subsection (b), nothing in this section 

shall preclude the application of other provisions of law relating to 

labeling. The Commission may periodically consider an appropriate 

percentage of imported components which may be included in the 

product and still be reasonably consistent with such decisions and 

orders. Nothing in this section shall preclude use of such labels for 

products that contain imported components under the label when 

the label also discloses such information in a clear and conspicuous 

manner. The Commission shall administer this section pursuant to 

section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and may from time 

to time issue rules pursuant to section 553 of title 5, United States 

Code, for such purpose. If a rule is issued, such violation shall be 

treated by the Commission as a violation of a rule under section 

18 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a) regarding 

unfair or deceptive acts or practices. This section shall be effective 

upon publication in the Federal Register of a Notice of the provisions of this section. The Commission shall publish such notice 

within six months after the enactment of this section. 

(b) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—The provisions of this section shall 

supersede any provisions of the law of any State relating to the extent to which a product is introduced, delivered for introduction, 

sold, advertised, or offered for sale in interstate or foreign commerce 

with a ‘‘Made in the U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in America’’ label, or the 

equivalent thereof, in order to represent that such product was in 

whole or substantial part of domestic origin. 

Æ 


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