Washington, Mar 05: The US Senate has voted to prevent federal contractors from using taxpayer dollars to move American jobs offshore. "You may be able to do that with your own money. The question is, should you be able to do that with the taxpayers' money?" said Sen. Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who proposed to ban outsourcing in federal contracts.

Numerous Republicans criticized the idea as a step away from friendly world trade, and they warned that the ban might result in a backlash.

"Sometimes I think we don't think it through when we do these broad, over-sweeping things like preventing government outsourcing," said Sen. Orrin Hatch. "I think we should be wary of retaliation against US companies who get awarded foreign government contracts."
The Senate passed it 70-26 yesterday.

If signed into law, the ban would stop contractors from moving work offshore in cases where the government privatises work once done by federal employees, when the federal government contracts for goods and services, and when state governments contract work using federal funds. Bureau Report