Political Quotes

“the amendment that I offer to this bill that is before us today is an amendment that strikes the requirements for Davis-Bacon wage scale and prohibits any of the funds from going to Davis-Bacon wage scale. And for the information of the body, Davis-Bacon wage scale is a Federal wage scale that was imposed over 75 years ago in this country; and I could go back into the history of it, but the essence of Davis-Bacon wage scale is this: it imposes union scale on all projects and any projects that are $2,000 or more, which essentially are all projects. I am a Member of this Congress that has worked and lived under Davis-Bacon wage scale, and I have done that for well over 30 years. I have done the homework, I have done the paperwork, I have put together the spreadsheets, and I dealt with all the employee dynamics that were involved there. And I make the point, Mr. Chairman, that labor is a commodity like corn or beans or gold or oil or gasoline, and the value of it needs to be determined by the marketplace, not by the government. And for the Federal Government to intervene in a relationship between two people, and a contractual relationship in particular, at the cost of the taxpayer that always favors going to a union scale and is not a prevailing wage but it is in effect a union scale, this authorization as written, if my amendment is not adopted, will cost the taxpayers an additional $26 million.”