Joe Biden’s ‘Buy America’ Policy on Infrastructure Projects Leads to Factory Jobs in Wisconsin
The Biden administration is trying to create more jobs through infrastructure projects in Wisconsin.
According to American Press News, the remarks were part of a broader effort by the administration to get voters to link job gains to specific actions taken by Biden, one of the foundations of his reelection effort amid continued public gloom about the economy because of the burst of high inflation that began during his presidency.
Much of the effort to deliver on those promises has occurred out of the public view, but Nokia and government officials agreed to discuss how this particular project came together.
“It was a labor of some length and passion,” said Brian Hendricks, vice president of policy and public affairs for Nokia Americas. “We spent almost a year working with the administration. They had to understand what the supply chain for broadband electrics actually is, understand how network deployments are done, and what would be feasible.”
But there was also an “urgency” for Nokia’s customers to know they could buy parts that were compliant with the “Buy America” provisions since the 2021 infrastructure law established preferences for domestically-made supplies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who appeared with Harris in Wisconsin, said the president was clear that she “wasn’t to be giving Buy America waivers easily.” She said the government needed to get into the weeds to know which products could have their supply chains brought into the U.S. and which parts would likely need to be foreign-made to ensure that projects could be completed on time.
Nokia met with government officials on the project more than a dozen times. It was an educational process as data was exchanged regarding which products could be made in the U.S.