Rep. Peters Amendment Against Outsourcing to Face Vote

Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) last month to keep tabs on large American-based multinational corporations is expected to be voted on Thursday.

Peters and two Democratic co-sponsors introduced the Outsourcing Accountability Act of 2012 (HR 3875), which would require firms with revenues of more than $1 billion to report how many employees they have in the United States broken down by state; jobs abroad would have to be broken down by country. Currently, public filings disclose the current number of employees in a given company. 

Peters said Wednesday that the act had been added as an amendment to HR 3606, a bipartisan-supported bill designed to further incentivize the creation of American jobs. That legislation, which was approved in committee 54-1 last month, is designed to provide small companies with relief from regulation expected of a more mature enterprise in order to encourage those companies to offer public stock. President Obama issued a statement in support Tuesday (PDF).

Peters added that consumers and "responsible" investors would appreciate the information in order to "make sure jobs stay in the United States."

“All jobs are not created equal, and Americans deserve to know whether the jobs a company is creating are in America or overseas,” HR 3875 co-sponsor Rep. Tim Bishop of New York said in February.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that of 515 distinct occupations, 160 may be susceptible to transfer offshore. According to a report in the Washington Post, some big firms, including General Electric and Wal-Mart, already reveal how many employees work in this country versus abroad.