Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I hear these arguments constantly: lowest common denominator, nonunion shops. We know it is union scale, there is a confession that it is, even though the law says that it is prevailing wage. Exploiting workers, race to the bottom, people work hard. These are standard lines that come out every year, but I am the one that has lived this. We have met payroll for over 42 years, and we pay a competitive wage. We want to hire the best people we can and pay them the best wages that we can, and we want to have the lowest turnover possible. And we are in pretty good shape that way after 42 years. I think I know about this. Davis-Bacon increases inefficiencies and it puts people in the wrong place doing the wrong thing for the wrong incentives. And by the way, who is hardworking? The taxpayers are hardworking. The taxpayers are paying the bill for an extra 20 percent on every construction project in America. In a lot of cases, we are borrowing the money from China and putting the debt onto our children. That is what we are faced with here, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Chair, look around the country. There are many States that have not adopted a minimum wage that exceeds the Federal minimum wage of $7.50 an hour. That is pretty pathetic.…”