[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10302-S10303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Reid, 
        Mr. Durbin, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Dodd, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Reed, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Sarbanes, 
        Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. 
        Boxer, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Bayh, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Corzine, Mr. 
        Dayton, Mr. Lautenberg, and Mr. Obama):
  S. 1749. A bill to reinstate the application of the wage requirements 
of the Davis-Bacon Act to Federal contracts in areas affected by 
Hurricane Katrina; to the Committee on Health, Education, labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. KENNEDY. As we send hundreds of billions of dollars in Federal 
aid to the areas devastated by Hurrican Katrina, we must remember that 
we are just rebuilding highway and schools--we are rebuilding 
communities and neighborhoods. And the foundation of such communities 
is good jobs with fair wages.
  The winds of Katrina exposed to all of America just how much more 
work remains to be done to achieve equality and fairness in this 
country. We are a stronger country when we are a fairer country. Yet, 
as the Administration awards billions of dollars in contracts to many 
of their corporate friends, they decide that the men and women of the 
gulf coast don't deserve to be paid a fair wage. The victims of Katrina 
have lost everything, and now President Bush says it is okay for them 
to lose their fair wages too. That is why I am introducing this 
legislation to ensure that that the workers involved in the recovery 
and reconstruction effort after Hurricane Katrina will earn a 
prevailing wage.
  Many people harmed by Hurricane Katrina were already struggling to 
make ends meet. Mississippi and Louisiana rank 1st and 2nd among States 
by the percentage of people below the poverty line. Moreover, 
Mississippi and Louisiana rank 2nd and 3rd by the percentage of 
children below the poverty line. Now the devastation of hurricane has 
caused the jobs and businesses they relied on to disappear. Experts 
have said that from 400,000 to 1 million workers may become unemployed 
as a result of the hurricane, with the unemployment rate reaching 25 
percent or higher in the gulf region. Many affected workers will be 
unemployed for 9 months or longer.
  The new jobs in the clean up, recovery, and rebuilding of the area 
will be a major source of new employment, and we need to be sure that 
they pay decent wages. This is all that Davis-Bacon does: it simply 
ensures that workers on Federal Government

[[Page S10303]]

projects earn a typical wage. Otherwise the large size of Federal 
contracts can overwhelm a local labor market lead to bidding wars that 
drive wages down. Indeed, Representative Davis and Senator Bacon were 
Republicans who wanted to protect local contractors, who would not be 
able to compete in such a price war.
  Workers who take these jobs will already face special hazards. Each 
day the administration reveals more details about workers' exposure to 
elevated levels of e.coli, toxic chemicals from flooded Superfund 
sites, and contaminants from massive oil spills. These workers should 
not have to suffer below-market wages, too.
  But the President apparently believes that workers in Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Alabama, and parts of Florida don't even deserve to earn a 
decent wage for a day's work. He would have you believe that Davis-
Bacon wages are exorbitant--nothing could be further from the truth. 
Indeed, in areas affected by Katrina, some typical wages include: $9.16 
per hour sheet metal workers, in Pearl River County, MS, $10.00 per 
hour for laborers in Livingston Parish, LA, $8.54 hour for truckdrivers 
in Mobile County, AL. And Federal spending post-Hurricane Katrina 
should be lifting workers up, not forcing them into a race to the 
bottom.
  I urge the Congress to reverse the President's decision and to stand 
with the hardworking men and women of the gulf coast as they rebuild 
their towns and their lives.

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