Sherrod Brown says American steel should be used in water projects

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says sewer and water projects funded by the federal government should use steel made in the U.S.He also wants to protect Clyde's Whirlpool plant against competition he considers unfair."American tax dollars should go toward American-made products," Brown said in a Wednesday press call to reporters back in Ohio.But a critic of the Senator at the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, says the senator is attempting to mandate government waste."It either costs taxpayers more money or it means you lay fewer miles of pipe," said Daniel Pearson, senior fellow in trade policy studies at Cato.Brown is attempting to amend the Water Resources Development Act to to require the use of American-made iron and steel products. The Senate supported the provision, but House leaders took it out."We cannot allow foreign companies to continue to undercut our steel industry and without Buy America, we are allowing this business to go elsewhere at the expense of tax payers," said Brown. "It's simple: American tax dollars should go toward American-made steel that supports American jobs. Period."Brown said he and other supporters of a buy-American provision have been Tweeting at President-elect Donald Trump, trying to get Trump to support the measure.He charged that House Speaker Paul Ryan "has chosen to send American tax dollars overseas."Brown was joined in his press call by Jeff Otterstedt, senior vice president of McWane Ductile in Coshocton, which makes steel pipes and fittings.Pearson, the Cato trade expert, said the mandate Brown supports could raise the cost of steel pipes for water and sewer pipes by 20 to 30 percent.That could hurt the environment by reducing the number of pipes, Pearson said.And it's also not clear that Brown's mandate would create jobs. Fewer miles of pipe mean fewer projects for American construction workers, Pearson said.Brown spent part of his day Wednesday testifying at an International Trade Commission meeting in Washington, D.C., which is considering whether China has been unfairly hurting the U.S. washing machine industry by sending cheap machines to the U.S.Brown told reporters that he was joined by 50 workers from Whirlpool's Clyde plant. Whirlpool has 10,000 Ohio workers who are in Clyde and several other Ohio cities."We fight for fair trade because we want to make sure our manufacturers and our workers are able to compete on a level playing field. That's what today's hearing is ultimately about: protecting middle class manufacturing jobs and defeating foreign competitors' efforts to close our factories," Brown said.U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, in Washington Wednesday with Clyde Whirlpool worker Rosa Jadwisiak.