Steel Yourself

After a long respite, AwfuLaw is back. The 111th Congress is now in session and they are wasting no time introducing horrible bills. It is really hard to pick one this time since there are so many awful bills introduced. I decided in the end to highlight Section 1110 of H.R. 1.

SEC. 1110. USE OF AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL.

(a) In General- None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron and steel used in the project is produced in the United States.

(b) Exceptions- Subsection (a) shall not apply in any case in which the head of the Federal department or agency involved finds that--

(1) applying subsection (a) would be inconsistent with the public interest;

(2) iron and steel are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality; or

(3) inclusion of iron and steel produced in the United States will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent.

(c) Written Justification for Waiver- If the head of a Federal department or agency determines that it is necessary to waive the application of subsection (a) based on a finding under subsection (b), the head of the department or agency shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed written justification as to why the provision is being waived.

(d) Definitions- In this section, the terms `public building' and `public work' have the meanings given such terms in section 1 of the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10c) and include airports, bridges, canals, dams, dikes, pipelines, railroads, multiline mass transit systems, roads, tunnels, harbors, and piers.

This is good old-fashioned protectionism. The proponents will point out the U.S. steel jobs saved by this bill. Frederic Bastiat would point out that it is not what is seen that is wrong with this bill, but rather, what is not seen. What you do not see is the number of jobs that will never be created because projects that are not feasible due to this restriction. He would probably point out that H.R. 1 is ugly to begin with and there isn't much point of nit-picking individual provisions. Some of my readers might think the stimulus bill is a good thing though, so I wanted to make my commentary more narrowly focused.

Of course if I were subject to the restrictions imposed by Section 1110, I would use the best steel at the best price available, then if questioned, point to subsection 1, paragraph b. Certainly I would argue, having the project built, employing workers, ensuring quality and all the other benefits are consistent with the public interest.