Lawmakers consider steel bill

Legislation that would require contractors to use American-made steel for all government construction projects in Minnesota passed its first committee Wednesday.

The bill, which cleared the House Government Operations Committee on a voice vote, would require all steel used in construction projects funded with any taxpayer dollars to be made in the United States, whether the projects are initiated by the state or local governments.

The requirement would apply to virtually all types of steel in nearly all public works projects, such as bridges, buildings, roads, airports and waterways.

“Eighty percent of the first-pour steel made in the U.S. comes from iron ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range,’’ President Craig Pagel of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota said.

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