Political Quotes

“I am opposed to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, Davis-Bacon is a pretty simple concept, and a fair one at that. What the Davis-Bacon Act does is to protect the government as well as the workers in carrying out the policy that is very simple and very straightforward: paying decent wages on government contracts. The Davis-Bacon Act requires that workers on federally funded construction projects be paid no less than the wages paid in the community for similar work. It requires that every contract for construction of which the Federal Government is a party in excess of $2,000 contain a provision defining the minimum wages paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics. Mr. Chairman, the House has taken numerous and repeated votes on this issue, and on every vote, this body has voted to maintain Davis-Bacon requirements. In fact, most recently, during consideration of the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, in a bipartisan fashion, the House firmly rejected a similar amendment 242-183. Last year, we avoided including divisive language like this in this bill, and it is my hope that we stop attacking the working class and defeat the amendment before us today and move on to more important matters as we surely have in front of us. Mr. Chairman, I urge all Members to vote ``no,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.”