more about The kissell amendment.!!

With just a month under his belt in the U.S. Congress, Rep. Larry Kissell (NC-08) has spearheaded an important piece of legislation that’s going to help keep jobs in North Carolina. This is why people worked so hard to defeat the encumbrance that was Robin Hayes.

The stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), included legislation offered by Congressman Larry Kissell (D-NC) mandating that any textile and apparel products contracted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) be manufactured in the United States with 100 percent U.S. inputs.

This mandate, commonly known as the Berry Amendment, first was applied to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) beginning in 1941. Because of existing U.S. international obligations, the new Kissell legislation only would cover prospective U.S. government procurement of uniforms and other textile products for the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard within DHS.

“I’m so proud to have my name on the Kissell Amendment. It is estimated upwards of 20,000 people will have jobs due to this measure. So many people in the textile industry worked so hard to make this expansion of the Berry Amendment a reality and as a former textile worker myself, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

For years I’ve been hearing NC Congressmen talk about keeping jobs here, but this is the first time we’ve seen a Buy American bill that really affects our textile industry. Go Larry!