Defense-spending bill would include “stainless steel flatware” in American-made purchasing rules.
Where do you get your forks, knives and spoons? The Alliance for American Manufacturing gets them from Liberty Tabletop. Sherrill Manufacturing makes this brand of flatware in upstate New York – the only flatware maker to currently manufacture in the United States. We’ve told their story a few times now on the AAM blog and podcast. It’s a good one!
Looks like their commitment to American manufacturing through some lean years is about to pay off. After making their case for years to New York’s congressional delegation, the phrase “stainless steel flatware” was added to a provision – found deep inside the humongous defense spending bill expected to shortly pass Congress – that governs Department of Defense (DOD) Buy America purchasing requirements.
What’s that mean?
That means when DOD (and its enormous budget) goes shopping for the forks, knives and spoons in its dining facilities, it’ll need to buy them from a domestic manufacturer. And that means it’ll be buying them from Liberty Tabletop, made by Sherrill Manufacturing in Oneida County, New York.
That’s a potentially huge business boost for this company, and it could result in a lot of new manufacturing jobs in New York.
CNBC has a big write-up on Sherrill Manufacturing's efforts to get this purchasing requirement into place. It includes an interesting exchange on the floor of the House of Representatives involving Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), who represents Oneida County in Washington:
For Brindisi, securing a new lifeline for Sherrill was a key priority. This summer, he took on Rep. Mac Thornberry, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services committee, on the House floor.
“Where does it stop? What about the napkins? What about the soap to wash your hands?” Thornberry said. “I don’t think we want to go down this road without a clear national security reason to limit the suppliers available to DOD.”
“I would argue that it is in our national security interest because supporting American manufacturing and supporting American jobs helps grow our economy,” Brindisi shot back. “I would much rather support American manufacturers than support manufacturers in China.”
Read the CNBC article here.