1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i President Encourages Agencies to Buy American-Produced Goods & Materials February 8, 2019 On January 31, 2019, the President signed the Strengthening Buy-American Preferences for Infrastructure Projects,
2、Executive Order 13858 (EO 13858), which is designed to encourage federal agencies to use, to the maximum extent permissible under law, American-produced goods, materials, and products in procurement contracts and in setting terms for federal assistance programs (e.g., grant programs) involving infra
3、structure projects. Although Congress has enacted generally applicable domestic preference laws in the procurement context, comparable buy American standards do not generally apply to federal grant and other assistance programs, which are covered in EO 13858. EO 13858 builds on an April 2017 “Buy Am
4、erican and Hire American” executive order (EO 13788), which focused on encouraging federal agencies to scrutinize compliance with and minimize the use of waivers of domestic preference standards under existing law. The President took these actions after several inspector general (IG) audit reports n