Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman very much. If my good friend from Iowa was joining and trying to make sure that Federally funded construction jobs went to companies that were based here in the United States, I would be celebrating with him to avoid the incident that happened with the bridge in California, where it was built by a Chinese company with Chinese nationals who had come over to the United States. But in this instance, I would like to ask the gentleman where he finds this present-day discrimination. In fact, as he well knows, opportunities for minority contractors have come about because of Members of this Congress who have fought for what we call--not set asides--but MWBE opportunities. We have seen the increase in construction companies. We need more. More importantly, unions have engaged in apprenticeship programs. Prevailing wages are nothing but giving a hard day's work and a decent-paying wage. It is to construction what we were trying to do with paycheck fairness. I disagree with the gentleman that in this day and time we're not making extensive efforts to make sure that there are diverse populations working and being trained under the union label and umbrella, and that there are young men and women who are benefiting from these training programs. More importantly, MWBEs, and if the gentleman would want to work with me on ensuring that these small contractors can work on Federal projects, he would have me aligned with him today.…”