[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 115 (Wednesday, September 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1845]]
        ON INTRODUCING THE FAIR WAGES FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS ACT

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 14, 2005

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing 
the Fair Wages for Hurricane Victims Act. This legislation reverses the 
unconscionable proclamation by the President last week to suspend 
Davis-Bacon prevailing wage protections for workers in certain areas 
affected by Hurricane Katrina.
  The Davis-Bacon Act requires that Federal contractors pay their 
workers at least the prevailing wage--simply the wage that is typical 
for their kind of job in their community. The prevailing wage 
requirement ensures that the Federal Government does not drive down 
workers' wages when it spends taxpayer dollars. The President's 
suspension of the Act is the wrong policy in the wrong place at the 
wrong time. Many of the workers subjected to these wage cuts have lost 
everything--their homes, their property, their jobs, and even family 
members. The best way to help them rebuild--not just the Gulf Coast but 
their lives--is to provide them with a decent job at a fair wage. 
America owes it to the victims of Hurricane Katrina that they can play 
a role in cleaning up and rebuilding their devastated communities at a 
wage that will allow them and their families to get back on their feet.
  Suspending the Davis-Bacon Act, however, means that Federal 
contractors receiving tens of billions of taxpayer dollars can pay 
their workers whatever wage they can get away with. Lower pay not only 
means unnecessary further hardship for working families, it means less 
quality work for taxpayer dollars. It means bigger profits for big 
contractors at the expense of working families. It means less money 
being pumped into the local economy, as local workers have less money 
to spend. As a New York Times editorial, which I attach to this 
statement for the record, succinctly put it, the President's suspension 
of the Davis-Bacon Act is ``a shameful proclamation.''
  The Fair Wages for Hurricane Victims Act will restore Davis-Bacon 
prevailing wage protections to the workers who have lost so much. The 
victims of Katrina are not a source of cheap labor for big contractors 
looking for big profits. They are American workers whose hard work and 
commitment to rebuilding must not be undervalued.
  I urge the President to rescind his executive order on Davis-Bacon, 
and in lieu of his taking such action I strongly urge my colleagues to 
support my bill and I urge its speedy passage.

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 10, 2005]

                        A Shameful Proclamation

       On Thursday, President Bush issued a proclamation 
     suspending the law that requires employers to pay the locally 
     prevailing wage to construction workers on federally financed 
     projects. The suspension applies to parts of Louisiana, 
     Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
       By any standard of human decency, condemning many already 
     poor and now bereft people to subpar wages--thus perpetuating 
     their poverty--is unacceptable. It is also bad for the 
     economy. Without the law, called the Davis-Bacon Act, 
     contractors will be able to pay less, but they'll also get 
     less, as lower wages invariably mean lower productivity.
       The ostensible rationale for suspending the law is to 
     reduce taxpayers' costs. Does Mr. Bush really believe it is 
     the will of the American people to deny the prevailing wage 
     to construction workers in New Orleans, Biloxi and other 
     hard-hit areas? Besides, the proclamation doesn't require 
     contractors to pass on the savings they will get by cutting 
     wages from current low levels. Around New Orleans, the 
     prevailing hourly wage for a truck driver working on a levee 
     is $9.04; for an electrician, it's $14.30.
       Republicans have long been trying to repeal the prevailing 
     wage law on the grounds that the regulations are expensive 
     and bureaucratic; weakening it was even part of the 
     Republican Party platform in 1996 and 2000. Now, in a time of 
     searing need, the party wants to achieve by fiat what it 
     couldn't achieve through the normal democratic process.
       In a letter this week to Mr. Bush urging him to suspend the 
     law, 35 Republican representatives noted approvingly that 
     Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and the elder 
     George Bush had all suspended the law during ``emergencies.'' 
     For the record, Mr. Roosevelt suspended it for two weeks in 
     1934, to make time to clear up contradictions between it and 
     another law. Mr. Nixon suspended it for six weeks in 1971 as 
     part of his misbegotten attempt to control spiraling 
     inflation. And Mr. Bush did so after Hurricane Andrew in 
     1992, two weeks before he was defeated by Bill Clinton, who 
     quickly reinstated it after assuming the presidency.
       If Mr. Bush does not rescind his proclamation voluntarily, 
     Congress should pass a law forcing him to do so.

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