Joe Cunningham: “the Democrats controlled this House for 40 years, and what have we ended up with? This Nation, with all its resources…”

“the Democrats controlled this House for 40 years, and what have we ended up with? This Nation, with all its resources, last in math and science of all the industrialized nations; last in literacy. Our schools are crumbling, and they need help. But what have they done? They have catered to the trial lawyers and the unions to rip off our school system. And I want to be specific. They talk about school construction. Waive Davis-Bacon. It costs between 15 to 35 percent, depending on what State, to build schools, because Federal dollars have to fall under the prevailing wage. They say, well, we want a living wage. Ninety percent of all the construction in this country are nonunion, and they earn a living wage. And, guess what? Minority contractors have a good chance at the jobs, where they do not with the unions. We can build schools. Let us not take that money away from the schools. Let us let the schools keep it. Do they want more construction, do they want teacher training, or whatever? But my colleagues on the other side, because they get most of their campaign money out of the unions, will not cross the unions.”