“It makes absolutely no sense to borrow from China and then use that money to buy sophisticated machinery from them, especially when those same goods are readily available from manufacturers right here in America!”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today U.S. Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) urged U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to reject a proposal for $450 million from the Obama Administration’s trillion dollar “stimulus” package to purchase wind turbines made in China. Jones communicated his request in a letter to Secretary Chu, the text of which follows below:

“I am writing with great concern over an article in today’s New York Times which states that “$450 million in federal stimulus money might go toward installing Chinese-made windmills in Texas.” The article, entitled “Jobs Question Jeopardizes Wind Farm’s Stimulus Deal,” goes on to say:

“According to partners in the deal, the proposed 600-megawatt wind farm, announced late last week, would be built on 36,000 acres in West Texas using 240 wind turbines manufactured by A-Power Energy Generation Systems of Shenyang, China. Partners in the $1.5 deal said that while most of the financing would come from unnamed Chinese banks, they would seek about one-third of the projects’ cost -- $450 million – from money set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the huge stimulus bill that passed earlier this year.”

I strongly opposed and voted against the Administration’s trillion dollar “stimulus package” because, among other things, it makes little sense for a debtor nation like ours to borrow billions from countries like communist China in an attempt to spend our way out of recession. It makes absolutely no sense to borrow from China and then use that money to buy sophisticated machinery from them, especially when those same goods are readily available from manufacturers right here in America!

It is sadly ironic that this story was published on the same day the U.S. Department of Labor released its latest report showing America’s unemployment rate is now 10.2%, the highest level in over 25 years. I urge you to do everything in your power to help stop the rise in U.S. unemployment and the offshoring of good-paying American jobs by rejecting this giveaway to China.”