Senators to introduce bill on US-made Olympic uniforms

The bill termed as “Team USA Made in America Act of 2012” will be introduced next week by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and his seven democratic colleagues that includes U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York. 

A press release from Senator Manchin’s office quoting, Senator Manchin said. “This idea is pretty simple: When the best American athletes are representing this country, they should be wearing the best ’Made in the U.S.A.’ uniforms”.

Last week (July 13, 2012), U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to Lawrence Probst, Chairman, United States Olympic Committee about his disappointment on the use of non-U.S. made uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team.

His letter has criticized the use of Chinese made goods and has urged the United States Olympic Committee to reconsider the decision to use Chinese clothing.

There has been uproar in the United States Congress on the use of Chinese made uniforms for the United States’ Olympic team ever since the news broke out last week.

Yesterday, Xinhua, the Chinese official news agency in a commentary retaliated against the recent uproar in the United States stating that some U.S. politicians have displayed shades of hypocrisy.

Furthermore, the commentary states that the U.S. Olympic uniform fiasco is a typical election year politics dominated by economic growth and job creation.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has recently stated that the U.S. textile and apparel companies have the necessary capacity to supply uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team.

A recent press release from NCTO stated that, “Chinese Advantage” has sharply narrowed in the United States due to enhanced productivity in the United States, increasing labor costs in China and high transportation cost towards the shipment of textile goods from China.

Seshadri Ramkumar