Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this is an amendment that I have offered in the past, and it will be known as the amendment that eliminates the effect of the Davis-Bacon Act. The substance of it is this: None of the funds made available by this act may be used to implement, administer, or enforce the prevailing rate of wage, which is the effect of this amendment, and it is effectively the Davis-Bacon Act. It seems to get the attention of some of my colleagues. I would say, Mr. Chairman, that I have worked with this issue as long as anyone in the United States Congress. I have worked back for years, as I began about 5 years in the construction site as an employee. Multiple times I received Davis-Bacon wage scales; sometimes I did not. As I became a contractor in 1975, we began hiring employees. Sometimes we paid Davis-Bacon wage scales, and sometimes we did not; but I was always aggravated by the Federal Government's deciding that they knew what we had to pay our help and what they were worth. I recall many debates on the floor of the House of Representatives when people from the other side of the aisle would say that anytime there is a relationship between two or more people that are consenting adults, the Federal Government has no business sticking themselves in the middle of that relationship.…”