Joe Manchin: “I rise today to speak to an important amendment to S. 744, the immigration bill now before us. My amendment would cap…”

“I rise today to speak to an important amendment to S. 744, the immigration bill now before us. My amendment would cap compensation for private contractors employed for border security at $230,700 a year. That is the same cap we now have on nonelected civilian employees of the Federal Government. I am offering this amendment because over the last couple of decades the United States has increasingly relied on private contractors to do the work that the men and women in our armed services used to do, and they are getting exorbitant salaries to do it--in some cases, up to $763,000 a year. That is almost twice the salary of the President of the United States, and it is almost four times the salary of the Secretary of Defense or Homeland Security. If we do nothing, that will soon rise to $951,000 a year. With the war in Afghanistan winding down, defense contractors are looking for new opportunities, and border security is at the top of their list. The New York Times said that some of them will demonstrate military-grade surveillance equipment this summer in an effort to get homeland security contracts worth billions of dollars. I urge that this amendment be adopted. It caps it at $230,000 across the board for all civilian employees. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time in opposition? The Senator from Alabama.”