Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio supports them:
"As we are losing jobs in record numbers, we obviously need to devote these funds to direct creation of American jobs. To do that, we must ensure that federal funds are used to buy American products and to help promote manufacturing in our country," Brown said.
I see his point about the creation of specific American jobs, although (as most readers might guess) I disagree that this is good for the economy overall (the costs to many outweigh the benefits to a few). But putting that aside, shouldn't those who take Sen. Brown's view be worried that our trading partners will respond in kind, which will result in American job losses as American companies are shut out of foreign procurement projects?
There's lots of talk in the blogosphere and the MSM about this issue. See: Ben Muse, Julian Ku at Opinio Juris, Eyes on Trade, Reuters, the Washington Post, and the Washington Post again.
UPDATE:
Joe Biden says:
"I don't view that as some of the pure free traders view it, as a harbinger of protectionism. I don't buy that at all. So I think it's legitimate to have some portions of buy American in it," Biden told CNBC.
In my view, whether it's a "harbinger" of protectionism kind of misses the point. It's actual, current protectionism!
