[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2789-H2790]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          THE DAVIS-BACON ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Duncan). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, Republicans in Congress have begun their 
assault on one of the most important workers' rights acts of the 20th 
century, the Davis-Bacon Act. This important law protects the American 
standard of living by ensuring that workers on federally-funded 
construction projects are paid at the wage rates that prevail in their 
communities. To repeal the Davis-Bacon Act would be a slap in the face 
to the American worker.
  The Davis-Bacon Act was passed in 1931 and signed by a Republican 
President. It was the first Federal wage law to provide prevailing wage 
protection to nongovernment workers.
  Now, Republicans in Congress are threatening to repeal this historic 
legislation. At a time when the number one concern of middle-class 
working families is a declining standard of living, repealing the 
Davis-Bacon Act would be devastating. The very heart of this law is 
protecting the American standard of living.
  But you do not have to take my word for it. Just look at what has 
happened in States that have present repealed prevailing wage laws. 
Economists at the University of Utah have written a comprehensive study 
of the effects of repealing prevailing wage laws in nine States during 
the 1980's.
  The University of Utah study found that the repeal of prevailing wage 
laws had a destructive economic impact. From their analysis of these 
repeal States, authors of the report project that the Federal Davis-
Bacon Act would hurt the national economy in the following ways:
  Federal income tax collections would fall by $1 billion per year 
because of the decline in construction earnings. As a result, the 
Federal deficit would dramatically increase.
  Each construction worker would see his or her annual earnings fall by 
$1,477. The total national loss due to this reduction in construction 
earnings would be $4.6 billion each year.
  A massive increase in cost overruns and use of expensive change 
orders. In the case of Utah, which repealed its State prevailing wage 
law in 1981, cost overruns on State financed roads tripled over the 
next
 decade due to the low-ball bidding practices. The lack of a prevailing 
wage will encourage similar overruns at the national level.

  Prevailing wage laws were designed to achieve a simple goal: to 
prevent government from using its purchasing power to undermine the 
wages of workers. It is a law that works. It works for 
[[Page H2790]] our workers, for their families, our communities, and 
our economy.
  American workers are already on an economic treadmill, working longer 
hours and earning less, struggling to buy homes, struggling to send 
their kids to college. The Davis-Bacon Act helps many American workers 
to keep pace. To repeal it now would turn up the speed on the economic 
treadmill and put the American dream out of reach for too many working 
families.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here tonight with several of my 
colleagues who are going to address this very, very important issue.

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