Senator Brown Introduces "Wear American Bill"

On February 6th, Senator Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Ohio) introduced a bill, S. 2001, to require that textile and apparel articles acquired for use by executive agencies be manufactured from articles, materials, or supplies entirely grown, produced, or manufactured in the United States. With current law only requiring federal agencies to purchase textile products that are 51 percent American made, Brown called for passage of the Wear American Act, that would require all textile products purchased by federal agencies to be made in the United States.

"It's not in the interest of American jobs, American taxpayers, or global human rights when our government procures goods from factories with records of blatant international labor violations," Brown said in a press release. "But the limited enforcement actions our government has at its disposal are undermined by a simple lack of disclosure. American taxpayers deserve to know the addresses of factories receiving contracts before they are awarded."

The text of the bill has not yet been posted on the Library of Congress website, however, Senator Brown previously introduced the bill in the 112th Congress as S. 3444.