James M. Jeffords: “I want to take a moment to straighten out the Davis-Bacon problem so that Members will not, I think, be concerned about…”

“I want to take a moment to straighten out the Davis-Bacon problem so that Members will not, I think, be concerned about something that was inadvertently done in the bill, and I am not sure is even there at all. The basic law upon which all contracts are considered with respect to the Davis-Bacon and the District of Columbia, and that is the Davis-Bacon law says every contract in excess of $2,000 to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party for construction, alteration, and or repair, et cetera, is included under Davis-Bacon. Now, some of you may remember that Congressman Cass Ballenger on the House side has this dream, and I hope it comes true, that thousands if not millions of dollars will come in from private business and corporations to assist in altering and helping schools. There is a provision with respect to the head of the GSA that says that in the event that he provides technical assistance to these private firms, that if that technical assistance exceeds $2,000 that should not trigger Davis-Bacon for those kinds of donated services. That is the intention.”