Washington, D.C. – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has long been a champion for Rhode Island manufacturers, has joined Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to urge President Donald Trump to stop rewarding companies that move operations out of the country.
In a letter, the senators called on the president to issue an executive order terminating government contracts for companies that offshore American jobs.
“We need to send a very loud and very clear message to corporate America: the era of outsourcing is over. Instead of offshoring jobs, the time has come for you to start bringing good-paying jobs back to the United States of America,” the senators wrote. “If you are serious about ending offshoring and helping the American worker, you will issue an executive order ending government contracts for companies that offshore American jobs.”
Last year, $176 billion in taxpayer dollars went to federal contractors who offshored American jobs, according to a recent report by Good Jobs Nation and Public Citizen. The 100 top commercial contractors have sent 58,913 American jobs abroad.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also signed the letter, which is available here.
In April, Whitehouse and Congressman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) introduced the Offshoring Prevention Act to eliminate a tax break for companies that send jobs overseas, level the playing field for American manufacturers, and reduce the budget deficit by billions of dollars. Whitehouse first introduced the Offshoring Prevention Act in 2011.
“Companies shouldn’t receive a tax benefit for sending jobs overseas and putting Rhode Island manufacturers at a disadvantage,” Whitehouse said at the time. “Ending this tax giveaway will help keep jobs in America and reduce the federal budget deficit in the process.”
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