The small town of Stanley, Va., figured on spending its nearly $40,000 share of federal stimulus funds to start replacing its aging fleet of four police cars.
But Stanley learned last summer that the federal government wouldn't release the town's stimulus money. The U.S. Department of Agriculture was worried that the town's plans to buy Dodge, Ford or Chevrolet police cars assembled in Canada could violate the "Buy American" provisions of the American Recovery and Investment Act, records show.
"The situation has put our town of Stanley in an extreme hardship trying to provide public safety to our community," Police Chief Tim Foster later wrote in letters to Congress....
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