New Steps to Help Ensure the Future is Made In America

By Celeste Drake, Made in America Director

President Biden is committed to taking bold action to ensure the future of America is made in America by all of America’s workers. His commitment is based on a simple premise: “that we’ll reward work, not wealth, in this country.”

On his first days in office, the President signed a Made-in-America Executive Order directing Federal agencies to ensure taxpayer dollars support American manufacturing, increasing oversight, and guiding a process for updating domestic preferences to fit the current realities of the American economy. Today, we’re taking another step forward by releasing initial guidance to covered agencies regarding the Made in America Office’s implementation of the President’s Executive Order.

The guidance incorporates a holistic view of how we implement Made in America laws across agencies while supporting and reinforcing the actions announced in the 100-Day Supply Chain Review released earlier this week. It requires agencies to examine current Made in America practices and develop plans to improve them. These efforts will work together to promote economic security, national security, and good-paying union jobs here at home.  Additionally, the guidance lays the groundwork for the Made in America Office to work with agencies to improve practices and processes to ensure that Made in America laws are not a mere compliance exercise, but an opportunity to support the President’s goals to tackle climate change, promote worker and environmental justice, and build back a stronger domestic manufacturing base.

The areas of implementation addressed in this guidance include:

• Senior Accountable Officials: The waiver guidance requires agencies to designate a Senior Accountable Official (SAO) for domestic sourcing to coordinate with the Made in America director to implement a holistic approach to advance the policy set forth in the Executive Order.
• Agency reports: The head of each covered agency shall report on its use of Made in America laws, pursuant to the Executive Order.  Reports will include an analysis of current practice regarding Made in America Laws and lay out proactive steps the agency is or will be taking to strengthen and diversify domestic supplier bases and create new opportunities for U.S. firms and workers.
• Agency-OMB waiver review process: The waiver guidance includes an initial list of the information that agencies must address when submitting proposed waivers to the Made in America Director for review and the deadline by which the Director of OMB, through the Made in America Director, will complete or waive each review.
• Waiver transparency: The waiver guidance outlines initial steps toward development of a public website that will include information on all proposed waivers and outcomes across all Made in America Laws. The website will also make new opportunities for American businesses clearer, helping more U.S. firms access federal contracting.

Increasing consistency and public transparency of these waivers will build confidence that Made in America laws are operating as intended while strengthening U.S. manufacturing capabilities, supporting good jobs and ensuring the future will be Made in America.

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