Sean Patrick Maloney: “Mr. Chairman, I rise to voice my support for the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act of which I am…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise to voice my support for the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act of which I am a lead sponsor with my colleagues... The Federal Government should not be taking actions that put American working men and women out of work. But that is exactly what the Federal Prison Industries does. Federal Prison Industries has established eight business groups including the garment industry that use Federal prisoners to manufacture goods at cut rate prices. With its predatory practices, FPI has contributed to the closure of private companies and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs throughout the Nation. One of my constituents, Glamour Glove Company confronted FPI directly in 1997. FPI sought to simply take Glamour Glove's competitively won Defense Department contracts to make gloves for the military. If FPI had succeeded, Glamour Glove would have been out of business. And its workers, members of UNITE would have been out of work. I led a fight to save those jobs in my district and had strong support of my colleagues in this Congress.”