Political Quotes

“In my own experience before coming to Congress, I was actually an ironworker for about 18 years. I have actually run work on projects with PLAs. I've been a general foreman on a large, complex construction project such as the ones that are covered by this bill. These large projects are $25 million and over, so it's not somebody who's throwing up a house here or there. I also worked in Louisiana, and we had a PLA where half the job was union and half the job was nonunion. There are situations in which PLAs are extremely important and extremely helpful. This bill would prohibit that from happening. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) is absolutely correct in his interpretation of the language of the bill. For instance, if the VA, which is right now considering building a spinal cord injury hospital in Brockton, Massachusetts, would like to put an agreement on that project that says they want 30 percent of the workers or 50 percent of the workers on this job to be United States veterans, they would not be able to put that language into effect because they would not be able to require a contractor to sign an agreement to hire veterans on a VA project. That's exactly what's wrong with the bill. Mr. Grimm has a very good amendment. It is on point. He is absolutely right. I know this from my own work on PLA projects.…”