Jerry Moran: “I am very much concerned that as we encourage the private sector to compete with the public sector so we can ensure that…”

“I am very much concerned that as we encourage the private sector to compete with the public sector so we can ensure that we carry out our programs in the most efficient manner, that we can let the market work its natural process so that the public sector is not costing two and three times as much as it could be done for in the private sector for many activities, whether it be waste disposal, public utilities, or any number of other things, janitorial services, secretarial services. All those activities are being privatized. States and localities ought to be able to privatize them, and private companies ought to be able to compete. They would not be able to compete under this legislation because we will have Federal standards applying completely to the private sector and States and localities would be exempt. I am offering a substitute amendment which was introduced 3 years ago. As of last year we had 248 cosponsors. We stopped getting cosponsors at that point because it was clear that the vast majority of Members agreed. In fact, we had the support of the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Governors' Association, all of the State organizations, the National Conference of State Legislators, a long list of them. They all supported this. They do not now, because the current legislation goes a step further.…”