[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIVE ORDER WOULD LINE THE POCKETS OF UNION CONTRACTORS

  (Mr. NORWOOD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, what would the American public say about 
Congress if we tried to exclude 90 percent of American workers from 
Government contracts? They would have our heads, and rightly so. But 
with a stroke of his pen the President wants to do just that, to pay 
off his friends at the AFL-CIO. The President wants to sign an 
Executive order that would make sure that all the hard-earned tax 
dollars Americans send to Washington for Federal construction projects 
go only to union contractors.
  It does not matter if a nonunion contractor can do a better or a less 
expensive job. It does not matter that this order would exclude 90 
percent of the working families of this country. That is just too bad. 
Only union contractors will get your tax dollars, even if it costs more 
than a nonunion firm.
  Does that make any sense? Of course not, but apparently the President 
thinks it is more important to line the pockets of the union bosses.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the President to reconsider this absurdly unfair, 
costly, and absurdly un-American order.

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