The State of Washington’s Senator Maria Cantwell seems to have developed a certain obsession with shoes as of late. Yesterday, Cantwell introduced 12 separate bills into the U.S. Senate dealing with shoes.

Specifically, these 12 bills are designed to create loopholes for companies importing shoes and boots of the following sorts:

- women’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- men’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- women’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, covering the ankle, whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 8 inches, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- men’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, covering the ankle, whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 8 inches, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- women’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, not covering the ankle, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- men’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 8 inches, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- men’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, not covering the ankle, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
- women’s footwear, valued over $23/pair, covering the ankle, with a coated or laminated textile fabric
-men’s wading boots, valued over $30/pair, with outer soles of rubber, plastics, leather, or composition leather and uppers of rubber or plastics whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 9 inches (22.86 cm)
- men’s wading boots, valued over $30/pair, with textile outer soles and uppers of leather or composition leather whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 9 inches (22.86 cm)
- men’s wading boots, valued over $30/pair, with textile outer soles and uppers of leather or composition leather whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 9 inches (22.86 cm)
- men’s wading boots, valued over $20/pair, but not over $45/pair, with outer soles of rubber, plastics, leather, or composition leather and uppers of leather whose height from the bottom of the outer sole to the top of the upper does not exceed 9 inches (22.86 cm)

Why the specificity? Why not provide exemptions from import duties for women’s wading boots, along with men’s? Why not allow a height of over 22.86 centimeters? Why are some wading boots allowed to be between 20 and 30 dollars in value, but others must be over 30 dollars in value?

It seems pretty plain that these bills from Senator Cantwell are not intended to serve any particular need among the American people for boots and shoes. Instead, the bills are designed to promote the economic interests of certain companies that have outsourced labor overseas. The legislation is crafted to apply to these companies’ shoes and boots only, leaving competitors out in the cold.

American workers get left out in the cold too, with legislation like this. Maria Cantwell’s shoe bills encourage American companies to have shoes manufactured in foreign sweatshops instead of here in the USA. These kind of special favors for companies seeking to avoid employing Americans are particularly despicable in the current economic climate.