{"id":83082,"date":"2017-07-25T05:27:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T09:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=83082"},"modified":"2017-07-23T16:55:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-23T20:55:37","slug":"tenney-introduces-spoonss-act-to-restore-longstanding-buy-america-requirement-for-stainless-steel-flatware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=83082","title":{"rendered":"Tenney Introduces SPOONSS Act to Restore Longstanding Buy America Requirement for Stainless Steel Flatware"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rep. Claudia Tenney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) joined Congressman\u00a0Daniel Lipinski (IL-3) in introducing the\u00a0Support Procurement of our Nation\u2019s Stainless Steel Act of 2017. This bipartisan bill\u00a0would restore the Berry Amendment\u2019s longstanding domestic sourcing requirement for stainless steel flatware.<\/span>
\n<\/u><\/p>\n

The Berry Amendment restricts the Department of Defense (DoD) from buying certain goods produced outside of the United States.\u00a0<\/span>Berry ensures that the U.S. maintains a robust industrial base capable of supporting the DoD’s logistics needs, particularly when doing so is not cost-prohibitive.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0national security demands that we have stable, reliable, and effective domestic supply chains so as to reduce our reliance on foreign goods and nations. To this end, the Berry Amendment requires the DoD to look domestic first for a range of goods and allows for waivers when domestic sourcing proves more costly.
\n<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

From 1976-2006, the Berry Amendment included a domestic sourcing requirement for stainless steel flatware.\u00a0During this time, Oneida Ltd. was the primary\u00a0domestic supplier for all of\u00a0DoD.\u00a0However, when Oneida Ltd.\u00a0shifted its flatware manufacturing overseas in 2007,\u00a0this provision\u00a0was eliminated\u00a0in the absence of a domestic flatware producer.\u00a0As a result,\u00a0DoD\u00a0determined that stainless steel flatware was \u201ca commercial commodity little produced in the U.S. after Oneida Ltd. ceased its domestic manufacturing operations.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

However, given the success and stability of a domestic supplier capable of meeting demand, the provision\u00a0should be reinstated. \u00a0Sherrill Manufacturing, located in the 22nd District, is currently the only domestic flatware manufacturer in operation.<\/span>
\n<\/u><\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican taxpayers overwhelmingly support having their hard-earned tax dollars go to American companies, so long as doing so does not raise the costs of business or unnecessarily burden government operations. Reinstating the Berry Amendment\u2019s\u00a0three-decades\u00a0old domestic sourcing provision for stainless steel flatware will provide our service members with high-quality, fair and reasonably priced\u00a0Made in America flatware while providing a no-cost boost to local manufacturing and small businesses across the country.\u00a0As the President highlights Made in America week and celebrates the quality of American made goods,\u00a0this bill will ensure that our federal government\u00a0prioritizes\u00a0\u2018Buying\u00a0American,\u2019\u00a0<\/b>said Tenney.\u00a0\u201cAs the only flatware manufacturer made 100 percent in America, Sherrill Manufacturing has proven their commitment to our nation and our community time and again.\u00a0This bill will\u00a0support American manufacturing, while protecting and\u00a0growing jobs here at home and across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/span>This\u00a0bill\u00a0would benefit a range of U.S.\u00a0companies that feed into Sherrill\u2019s supply chain, while creating\u00a0new opportunities for a host of domestic manufacturers that already produce American made stainless steel cookware. Sherrill\u2019s supply chain extends throughout the country, touching nearly 100 companies in more than five states\u00a0including American\u00a0stainless steel\u00a0sourced from Ohio.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cAmericans want their\u00a0tax dollars to \u2018Buy American and Hire American,\u2019 and this bill helps to\u00a0do just\u00a0that,”\u00a0said Lipinski. “I’m proud to help introduce this legislation that will\u00a0strengthen our steel industry and create American\u00a0manufacturing jobs.”<\/p>\n

\u201cA big thank you to Claudia Tenney and her staff for pushing hard to have all flatware for the DoD Made in America as it was for many decades.\u00a0 Our company and our employees applaud her efforts which will boost both sales and employment at Sherrill Manufacturing, located right here in Central New York,\u201d\u00a0said Greg Owens, CEO of Sherrill Manufacturing and Matt Roberts, President of Sherrill Manufacturing.<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/i>For\u00a0most of the 30 years that the Berry Amendment\u2019s flatware requirement was in effect, there was only one eligible domestic producer. Therefore, it has already been demonstrated that a single supplier with a well-documented\u00a0track record\u00a0can meet\u00a0the DoD\u2019s demand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, the\u00a0DoD\u00a0can waive this requirement and is not locked in to purchasing domestic if doing so raises costs. The amendment maintains all existing cost and quality waivers. This means that if the quality, quantity available, or cost of Sherrill\u2019s products were to change, this amendment retains\u00a0DoD\u2019s\u00a0ability to waive the requirement and opt to purchase flatware from others sources.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Sherrill Manufacturing acquired Oneida Ltd.\u2019s facilities and assets in 2005. Since then, domestic flatware production has rebounded, with Sherrill Manufacturing posting remarkable growth and relying on a domestic supply chain of more than 100 companies.<\/p>\n

Since 2008, Sherrill Manufacturing has sold more than $6.8 million in flatware to the federal government, including to the Department of Defense, through General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) contracts as well as GSA Advantage. This has demonstrated their reliability as a stable domestic supplier of flatware at prices that GSA has repeatedly determined are \u201cfair and reasonable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) joined Congressman\u00a0Daniel Lipinski (IL-3) in introducing the\u00a0Support Procurement of our Nation\u2019s Stainless Steel Act of 2017. This bipartisan bill\u00a0would restore the Berry Amendment\u2019s longstanding domestic sourcing requirement for stainless steel flatware. The Berry Amendment restricts the Department of Defense (DoD) from buying certain goods produced outside of the United States.\u00a0Berry ensures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23811,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-lC2","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/CT-HEADSHOT.jpg?fit=2030%2C2840&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}