Tue Feb 14 2012
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio has joined a group of senators in expressing dismay with the use of federal stimulus dollars by a Texas wind farm company that will have its windmills built in China, employing 3,000 people there, and permanently employing only 30 people in America once the windmills are up and operating.
According to the Texas firm, the senator and others have exaggerated the numbers, saying constructing the devices in China will not employ that many and that most of the parts in the windmills will be manufactured in the United States.
Regardless, we think Senator Brown has a point. China would not let its tax dollars be shipped abroad to employ Americans and we do not think the American taxpayers' money should be shipped abroad when so many are out of work at home.
The trouble, apparently, is that the federal stimulus bill, so hastily enacted a year ago by the Democrats without a single Republican vote, failed to include a "Buy American" clause that would have required firms to keep the money in the United States.
Surely Americans are capable of assembling the windmills the Texas firm wants built although the cost of labor would likely be higher. We think Americans should be the ones to perform that job.
Congress might better revisit the stimulus legislation and retroactively attempt to enact a "Buy American" clause so that the tax money being used targets putting Americans back to work.
We believe in free trade, but in this instance, when so many Americans are out of work, the stimulus money paid for by the American people through their taxes should be aimed at providing jobs here at home. We have no business using tax dollars to create jobs in China.
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