While there was a lot of bluster, rhetoric, and Executive Orders aimed at furthering the cause of “Buy America(n)” in the last four years, from where I sit, very little was actually accomplished and in fact more damage and harm was done to our industry than benefits realized. You might ask why I say this.
For starters, the previous Administration focused on deregulation and ensuring that no new regulations would be promulgated. While you may support this approach, the practical outcome is that a critical driver for technology innovation and creating new markets evaporated. Environmental regulations that require utilities to fix problems creates opportunity for solution providers, such as our manufacturers, to provide those technologies and potentially opens new markets, particularly when those regulations are actually enforced. The last four years also saw the U.S. withdraw from many critical multinational trade agreements, diminishing or eliminating markets for U.S. products. Add in the innumerable and ever-changing landscape of tariffs and tariff wars that created supply chain interruptions and increased product costs, these actions hurt, rather than helped American businesses and consumers. We also lost projects and jobs over almost a three-year period when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was prohibited from issuing waivers under the American Iron and Steel provisions in the state revolving loan fund (SRF) program for products such as certain valves that are simply not made in America. Because they could not issue those valid and legal waivers, potentially lesser quality products were sourced, projects were shelved, jobs were lost, and the public and environment did not receive the benefit of improved water quality and enhanced protections.
President Biden didn’t wait long to begin to undo the agenda of the last Administration. On his first day in office, he issued a total of 17 Executive Orders, memoranda, and proclamations across a wide range of issues. On Monday, January 25, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14005 to strengthen Buy American provisions. Titled Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All America’s Workers, the E.O. references tightening the definition of American-made products for purposes of Federal procurements.
The E.O. establishes a Director of Made in America at the White House Office of Management and Budget to oversee the all-of-government Made in America Initiative. This office will be responsible for reviewing all waiver requests and will supervise the increased purchase of U.S. made goods and ensure Federal outlays are restricted to American-made component parts.
In addition, the E.O. references making historic investments in Research and Development to sharpen America’s innovative edge in markets where global leadership is up for grabs, increasing domestic content and value definitions for American-made products, and the creation of a national network of manufacturers called the Manufacturing Extension Partnership in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to help government procurement agencies connect with domestic suppliers for their products. The E.O. appears to be focused on federal procurement, federal grants, and other forms of federal assistance. At this point, it remains to be seen as to how it may ultimately impact projects funded by the drinking water and clean water SRFs, which already have a very robust waiver process in place that entails a multi-step process at the local, state, and federal level and includes public review and input and well as outreach to the broader manufacturing community to determine whether the product(s) in question can be sourced in the U.S.
Of particular concern will be how and if the definition of Buy America(n) may be expanded to include manufactured goods or products that have undergone “substantial transformation” by American workers. For those of you who lived through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, you remember what a disaster that was and the major problems in implementing those requirements. So, while we will likely see a much stronger push to codify changes in sourcing American products, it remains to be seen whether this will help or hurt our industry. WW
About the Author: Vanessa M. Leiby is Executive Director of the Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA). WWEMA is a non-profit trade association that has been working for water and wastewater technology and service providers since 1908. WWEMA’s members supply the most sophisticated leading-edge technologies and services, offering solutions to every water-related environmental problem and need facing today’s society. For more information about WWEMA go to www.wwema.org.
