Political Quotes

“Yes, I will. Mr. President, I assume the chairman of the committee yields me whatever time I want to consume, and I am reserving some time also for the chairman. Here we go again. It is not the first time we have had an attack on Davis-Bacon. I am sure it will not be the last. Again, we have to get the facts out and not be led astray by misconceptions and by lack of really good data. The fact is that Davis-Bacon doesn't just create good jobs, it saves government money in Federal construction costs. Again, my friend from Kentucky has said this is going to cost more money. Well, I would like to see the studies because we have had a lot of studies on this over the years, and they show that prevailing wage laws lead to reductions in the costs and responsible contractors that pay workers at least a prevailing wage, higher productivity, and fewer safety problems. We need Davis-Bacon so that our infrastructure projects are built safely for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on them, because contractors that pay prevailing wages hire higher skilled and better trained workers, and they produce safer buildings, airports, bridges, roads, and tunnels. Senator Paul's amendment would undermine public safety by making it much easier for less responsible contractors to build important public infrastructure projects with shoddy construction. Congress has rejected attacks on Davis-Bacon before, going clear back to 1931. It should do so again.…”