New Hampshire

Opinion: NH should ‘Buy America’

Published

3 years ago

April 17, 2022

Press Room

Cliff Thornberry is president of American Metal Fabricators in Greenfield.

Publicly funded building initiatives ought to use supplies made by American staff as a lot as is fairly doable.

That is known as a Purchase America rule, and the federal authorities for many years has utilized them to a whole lot of its spending. If we put it up for a preferred vote I’m assured that it could get overwhelming assist as a result of it appeals to our frequent sense: Our tax {dollars} go farther once they’re spent regionally or elsewhere in the US.

However there’s no rule like that in New Hampshire. Once we spend state and local-level tax cash on a serious freeway building undertaking, there aren’t any guardrails. The cash can go anyplace, which generally means it simply goes to the bottom bidder, and that usually means an organization that isn’t even situated on this nation.

The state legislature is contemplating a proposal that might right this. SB 438 would put a desire on the books for domestically made supplies for publicly funded initiatives. It’ll be certain American staff, not those that pay their taxes to a overseas authorities, get the primary shot at profitable contracts with our state. That’s it.

What received’t this desire do? It received’t run up prices. If there aren’t sufficient American-made supplies accessible to finish the undertaking, or in the event that they’re considerably dearer than a competing imported good, then a waiver to this rule is granted. That’s a part of the regulation.

It received’t trigger a bunch of lawsuits. Home desire guidelines are allowed within the worldwide commerce agreements our authorities has signed. Canada makes use of them, for example. And, along with the federal authorities, loads of different American states have these guidelines in place for their very own spending too. None of them are drowning in litigation.

And it received’t trigger the general public enterprise of New Hampshire to grind to a halt. Our state businesses already adhere to Purchase America guidelines once they handle contracts which are in any respect funded by federal cash. This isn’t going to require a studying curve.

So what’s the argument towards it? You would possibly hear some sort of fundamentalism in regards to the authorities selecting winners and losers, but it surely at all times boils all the way down to value. The regulation of the low price ticket is unimpeachable, the reasoning goes. That is principally the rationale that in previous many years we noticed 1000’s of American factories closed, their staff laid off, and their jobs moved offshore. It’s the rationale all the things you purchase at Walmart, Goal and from Amazon is an import.

This fully dismisses the concept of conserving our spending’s “financial multiplier” inside our personal financial system. When our governments, federal, state and native, award a contract to a home firm, it creates work for expert American staff. They take their paychecks and buy groceries, rent plumbers and electricians for residence repairs, have their vehicles serviced and spend their cash regionally in actually tons of of different methods, all of which is financial exercise that positively impacts different home companies and staff.

With out such a home desire in place, our tax {dollars} will extra usually have an effect on financial exercise elsewhere.

I’m a member of the Metal Fabricators of New England, a commerce affiliation made up of small, usually family-owned corporations that purchase metal from the mills and modify it to satisfy our clients’ necessities. My firm bids on the sorts of procurement contracts that might fall below the proposed laws, and over time I’ve seen overseas rivals take an rising share of them. It is a powerful enterprise, and it’s made unnecessarily more durable when our personal authorities awards contracts to overseas competitors that doesn’t need to function below strict home environmental and labor requirements.

This invoice would give American corporations like mine the primary shot at New Hampshire’s procurement contracts relatively than corporations that don’t rent American staff or pay American taxes. That’s not an excessive amount of to ask, and I’m assured that almost all voters agree with me. I hope my legislators will too once they weigh in on SB 438.

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New Hampshire

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays From Patch In New Hampshire To You

Published

6 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays From Patch In New Hampshire To You

CONCORD, NH — From all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays.

We hope you have a great time with family and friends during this joyous time of the year.

Unlike last year, when it was kinda dreary due to not having any snow, there is a little bit on the ground this year, thankfully. It’s incredible how something as simple as a little white stuff on the ground can make the mood festive.

If you need some posts and videos to get into the holiday spirit, check out some of the ones I put together this season:

Also Read

The Concord Nativity scene outside the Statehouse on Christmas Eve 2024. Credit: Tony Schinella

This year, I ran out of time and did not get to put together a Christmas lights video. I ran out of time last year, too. However, I’ll make a mental note to do one in 2025; it’s work to put together, but they are a lot of fun.

If you haven’t seen the prior videos, check them out here:

Christmas Lights in Concord 2022:

Christmas Lights in Concord 2021:

Christmas Lights in Concord 2020, Part 1:

Christmas Lights in Concord 2020, Part 2:

I’ll have a few “Best Of” posts next week, and we can then welcome in the New Year.

Until then, stay safe and enjoy your time with your family and friends.

Got a news tip? Could you send it to tony.schinella@patch.com? View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel.

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New Hampshire

NH Supreme Court issues ruling in airport fueling station fight

Published

15 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Dec. 24—The state Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a legal fight over a proposed jet fueling station at Portsmouth International Airport, determining only landowners are able to offer environmental concerns on matters before the New Hampshire Wetlands Council, not renters. Million Air, an international fixed-base operator (FBO) provider based in Houston, Texas, and doing business as Pease …

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