Burns pushes for American-made products to create jobs

Rep. Frank Burns    October 18, 2023 | 4:59 PM

HARRISBURG, Oct. 18 – Pursuing his proposal to rebuild Pennsylvania with American-made products, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, today added a made-in-America requirement to a bill related to EV chargers.

“This amendment goes hand in hand with my American Made Jobs Plan, which would require American-made products to be used in taxpayer-funded projects,” Burns said. “If taxpayers are paying for these projects, then it should be produced by American workers – and my amendment does just that.”

Burns’ amendment would require that at least 75% of electric vehicle charging equipment be made in America, for the purposes of considering EV charging equipment eligible for state funding under the C-PACE program.

Burns said his amendment also addresses the fact that U.S. production is not yet able to meet this threshold.

“We want to provide an incentive for American companies to catch up to overseas production, so we can rebuild manufacturing in the United States and bring back jobs from China,” he said.

The Pennsylvania Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program, also known as the C-PACE program, was created in 2018 to provide business owners access to low-interest, long-term loans for clean energy and clean water projects.

The amended bill is expected to be considered by the full House in the coming weeks.