Fifty-nine members of Congress, in an angry letter Tuesday, urged the U.S. Olympic Committee to guarantee that American athletes wear American-made uniforms at future Olympic games.
Their broadside follows last week's revelation that Team USA's uniforms for the London games, styled by iconic American designer Ralph Lauren, are made in China, the principal source of garments imported into the United States.
"We are outraged," began the bipartisan letter addressed to Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, and initiated by Democratic Congressmen Pete Stark of California and Mike Michaud of Maine.
"At a time when so many Americans are still searching for work, it is offensive that the USOC would not support our workers and their families by manufacturing the uniforms here.
"Team USA should wear uniforms that evoke more than just an image, but actual labor from workers and raw materials from America.
"The USOC should immediately adopt a policy to ensure that future uniforms are manufactured in America."
'We Don't Outsource the Athletes'
In a press release accompanying the letter, Stark said: "We don't outsource the athletes who represent the United States in the Olympics and we shouldn't outsource the manufacturing of Team USA's uniforms."
Supporting the letter were the AFL-CIO and the National Council of Textile Organizations, an industry group.
Clearly stung by the furor, and with Senate majority leader Harry Reid proposing that the London uniforms be put in a pile and burned, the USOC on Friday said it was too late to supply U.S.-made uniforms in time for London.
But it said Ralph Lauren had agreed to "domestically manufacture Team USA's apparel" for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Separately, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia vowed Tuesday to press ahead with legislation he has co-sponsored to require all "ceremonial uniforms" for U.S. Olympic athletes to be produced on U.S. soil.
"At a time when so many Americans are struggling, it is even more important for Team USA to put forward American-made uniforms -- not only to support our manufacturers, but to take pride in our country," he said in a statement.
Rockefeller chairs the Senate Commerce, Transportation and Science Committee, which is considering changes to the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to make American-made Olympic uniforms mandatory under the law.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012
