While "Buy American" rules may sound attractive, these mandates generate red tape that delays "shovel ready" projects and risks triggering retaliation by our trading partners. In most cases, "Buy American" rules aren't creating American jobs -- they're destroying them and delaying our recovery.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was one of many organizations that recently submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on how best to implement the "Buy American" mandates in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. With tens of thousands of jobs potentially at risk due to these unprecedented rules, we thought we'd issue this summary of recommendations supported not just by the Chamber but by many other organizations that submitted comments.

• "Buy American" rules should not apply to procurements overseen by state and local governments. "Buy American" rules have been around since the 1930s, but they generally haven't been applied to state and local governments -- and a deep recession isn't the time to start.

• One remedy would be for OMB to issue a blanket public interest waiver for all federal assistance awards funded under the Recovery Act.

• If OMB persists in interpreting the statute as applicable to sub-federal procurement, state and local governments should emulate the federal government in their disbursements of funds regardless of whether they are a signatory to an international agreement.

• OMB should consider the conditions that undermine the goals of the Recovery Act as justification for public interest waivers, such as project delays and the potential for reciprocal market access abroad to be removed (a risk that looms today in Canada).

• OMB should consider a de minimis waiver of 10% of total project (or project material) cost.

• OMB's final guidance must include some level of authority to be delegated to state and local officials to waive Buy American requirements.

• OMB should clarify that Section 1605 does not apply to recipients that are not "governmental agencies."

• OMB should exempt "commercial items" from applicability under the "Buy American" requirements. Commercial item supply chains are well established and modifications to them for Recovery Act projects will be difficult or impossible for most companies.