Biden picks union official as ‘Buy American’ enforcer
Buy American #BuyAmerican
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he was appointing Celeste Drake, one of the labor community’s most experienced trade specialists, as the first “Made in America” director, a position within the White House budget office.
Biden created the post in late January, when he signed an executive order aimed at toughening requirements for federal agencies to “Buy American” as part of the hundreds of billion of dollars worth of purchases that they make each year.
That spending is expected to rise in the wake of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed recently by Congress and Biden’s push for a $2 trillion infrastructure package.
Trade policy veteran: For the past two years, Drake has been head of government relations for the Directors Guild of America, the union representing TV and film directors. Previously, she had a highly visible role as the trade and globalization policy specialist for the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor group.
During that time, she pushed for tougher labor provisions in trade agreements and helped lead the AFL-CIO’s charge against the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that the Obama administration negotiated with Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
She also worked with the Trump administration when it was negotiating a successor to NAFTA, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The USMCA eventually won the AFL-CIO’s endorsement after House Democrats negotiated several changes to the pact, including the creation of a new labor enforcement mechanism.
Another AFL-CIO alum and Drake’s former boss, Thea Lee, who is president of the labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute, will also be joining the Biden administration in a yet undisclosed role.
Drake previously served as legislative director for Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and legislative counsel for Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas). She was a clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Her new job: One of Drake’s primary tasks as Made in America director will be cracking down on agency waivers from Buy American requirements to maximize the amount of U.S.-made iron, steel and other products paid for with U.S. tax dollars.
Federal agencies are allowed to waive Buy American requirements to buy foreign goods for a number of reasons, such as if the price of the U.S. good exceeds a certain level. Biden has said he wants the waivers to be approved only in very limited circumstances, such as for national security or humanitarian purposes.
For the first time, agency officials will be required to submit the waivers to Drake for review and proposed waivers will also be listed on a public website to give domestic manufacturers a chance to weigh in.
Still, it’s unclear just how much impact tightening the waivers will have. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, foreign goods accounted for only about 3 percent of $2.35 trillion worth of U.S. government procurement between 1995 and 2000.
However, the Biden administration also plans to look at domestic content requirements for goods to be considered “American-made” to decide if the rules should be tightened.