Then consider the story of Latrobe Steel and Congressman Jack Murtha, as reported by the Coyote : And this certainly is a feel-good story for those rooting for the government to re-engineer the American auto industry: Latrobe Specialty Steel of Latrobe, 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, makes specialty steel for aircraft parts. In 2006, its parent company, Timken, spent $2.9 million lobbying Congress on various issues and persuaded lawmakers to ban the Defense Department from buying any products using foreign-made specialty steel. As the sole U.S. producer of certain kinds of specialty steel, Latrobe saw its orders climb. Timken then sold Latrobe to a group of investors in a $250 million deal. But the buy-American restrictions for specialty steel caused serious problems for the Air Force, creating a 17-month lag in getting spare parts for aircraft used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May 2007, Latrobe said it needed to expand but complained of high electric bills and publicly threat...