II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2216

To direct the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to

require, as a condition of any financial assistance provided by the Agency

on a nonemergency basis for a construction project, that products used

in the project be produced in the United States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 8, 2000

Mr. CAMPBELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To direct the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to require, as a condition of any financial

assistance provided by the Agency on a nonemergency

basis for a construction project, that products used in

the project be produced in the United States.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Emergency

5 Management Agency Buy American Compliance Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. APPLICABILITY OF BUY AMERICAN REQUIREMENTS

2 TO FEMA ASSISTANCE.

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

4 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Agency’’ means the

5 Federal Emergency Management Agency.

6 (2) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Agreement’’ has

7 the meaning given the term in section 308 of the

8 Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C. 2518).

9 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means

10 the Director of the Federal Emergency Management

11 Agency.

12 (4) DOMESTIC PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘domestic

13 product’’ means a product that is mined, produced,

14 or manufactured in the United States.

15 (5) PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘product’’ means—

16 (A) steel;

17 (B) iron; and

18 (C) any other article, material, or supply.

19 (b) REQUIREMENT TO USE DOMESTIC PRODUCTS.—

20 Except as provided in subsection (c), the Director shall

21 require, as a condition of any financial assistance provided

22 by the Agency on a nonemergency basis for a construction

23 project, that the construction project use only domestic

24 products.

25 (c) WAIVERS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), the requirements of subsection (b) shall

3 not apply in any case in which the Director deter4 mines that—

5 (A) the use of a domestic product would be

6 inconsistent with the public interest;

7 (B) a domestic product—

8 (i) is not produced in a sufficient and

9 reasonably available quantity; or

10 (ii) is not of a satisfactory quality; or

11 (C) the use of a domestic product would

12 increase the overall cost of the construction

13 project by more than 25 percent.

14 (2) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY OF WAIVERS

15 WITH RESPECT TO PRODUCTS PRODUCED IN CER16 TAIN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—A product of a foreign

17 country shall not be used in a construction project

18 under a waiver granted under paragraph (1) if the

19 Director, in consultation with the United States

20 Trade Representative, determines that—

21 (A) the foreign country is a signatory

22 country to the Agreement under which the head

23 of an agency of the United States waived the

24 requirements of this section; and
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1 (B) the signatory country violated the

2 Agreement under section 305(f)(3)(A) of the

3 Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C.

4 2515(f)(3)(A)) by discriminating against a do5 mestic product that is covered by the Agree6 ment.

7 (d) CALCULATION OF COSTS.—For the purposes of

8 subsection (c)(1)(C), any labor cost involved in the final

9 assembly of a domestic product shall not be included in

10 the calculation of the cost of the domestic product.

11 (e) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—The Director shall not

12 impose any limitation or condition on assistance provided

13 by the Agency that restricts—

14 (1) any State from imposing more stringent re15 quirements than this section on the use of articles,

16 materials, and supplies mined, produced, or manu17 factured in foreign countries in construction projects

18 carried out with Agency assistance; or

19 (2) any recipient of Agency assistance from

20 complying with a State requirement described in

21 paragraph (1).

22 (f) REPORT ON WAIVERS.—The Director shall annu23 ally submit to Congress a report on the purchases from

24 countries other than the United States that are waived

25 under subsection (c)(1) (including the dollar values of
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1 items for which waivers are granted under subsection

2 (c)(1)).

3 (g) INTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A person described in para5 graph (2) shall be ineligible to enter into any con6 tract or subcontract carried out with financial assist7 ance made available by the Agency in accordance

8 with the debarment, suspension, and ineligibility

9 procedures of subpart 9.4 of chapter 1 of title 48,

10 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu11 lation).

12 (2) PERSONS INELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE CON13 TRACT OR SUBCONTRACT.—A person referred to in

14 paragraph (1) is any person that a court of the

15 United States or a Federal agency determines—

16 (A) has affixed a label bearing a ‘‘Made in

17 America’’ inscription (or any inscription with

18 the same meaning) to any product that is not

19 a domestic product that—

20 (i) was used in a construction project

21 to which this section applies; or

22 (ii) was sold in or shipped to the

23 United States; or

24 (B) has represented that a product that is

25 not a domestic product, that was sold in or
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1 shipped to the United States, and that was

2 used in a construction project to which this sec3 tion applies, was produced in the United States.

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