Adriano Espaillat: “I would like to thank my colleague and ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Mr. Scott, for…”

“I would like to thank my colleague and ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Mr. Scott, for yielding. I stand here in opposition to this resolution, which looks to undo rules that provide safety and fairness in the workplace. The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule speaks for itself. It ensures that contractors entrusted with taxpayer dollars cannot exploit their workers and that repeated lawbreakers do not get a competitive advantage. This standard does not impose extra regulations on contractors. It simply requires that they follow the law. These laws make sure women are paid the same wages for the same work. They make sure that employers are paying a fair rate for overtime work. They protect employees with disabilities. And they protect workers who are victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment by ensuring those individuals have an opportunity to be heard. A 2013 Senate report found that government contractors are often among the worst violators of the workplace safety, wage, and hour laws. Nearly one in three companies with the worst safety and wage violations are Federal contractors. Americans working for Federal contractors lose up to $2.5 billion each year to violations of minimum wage laws alone. This is unacceptable and exactly why this order was executed--to protect workers.…”