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“REPEAL OF THE DAVIS-BACON ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H9569 on Sept. 27, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REPEAL OF THE DAVIS-BACON ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hobson). Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Salmon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. SALMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in strong support of the repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act. Davis-Bacon is over 60 years old, but has already lived out its usefulness by that long in dog years.
This act is an example of the command and control economics practiced by the failed Soviet state. Instead of the free market determining the wages of workers employed by Federal construction contractors, we have a handful of bureaucrats in the Labor Department right here in Washington deciding how much their fair pay should be.
That's right, the same Government that spent the American taxpayer's money to study the effects of cow flatulence on the ozone layer has decided to give electricians in Philadelphia a raise from the $15.76 market average to $37.97 per hour just for working on a Federal building.
I would love for somebody to show me how the federally determined prevailing wage can be over twice as high as the city-wide average.
From its creation in 1931, Davis-Bacon has been used to freeze lower-
wage, nonunion workers out of Federal construction projects. That was its purpose then, and that is what is does now. By equating the prevailing wage with higher wages, the Department of Labor is still protecting unions from being undercut by their less costly nonunion competitors who are paying wages determined by the free market.
That is why small business organizations like the NFIB and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce so strongly support the repeal of Davis-Bacon. By requiring firms to pay their employees the higher wage, small businesses are virtually frozen out of every phase of virtually every Davis-Bacon contract. We should be committed to expanding opportunities for small businesses, not continuing unsound policies that limit their participation in Government contracts.
Davis-Bacon is also costly to the American people. The act has cost taxpayers billions of dollars over the years as the taxpayer has been forced to pay too much for construction work that could and should have been done for less. The CBO estimates that the act costs at least $1.5 billion per year. For this reason, the GAO has been arguing for its repeal since 1979. In these tough budgetary times, not repealing this act is simply irresponsible.
This act also costs our States and localities in terms of added paperwork. Dallas TX, estimates that their officials spend 4,000 hours just to comply with the mandates of the act. That is 167 days, or almost 6 entire months! This is just time spent on compliance, not even the actual building Davis-Bacon projects--unless you consider the towers of paperwork a construction contract.
It has also been estimated that Davis-Bacon adds 10 percent to the cost of inner-city construction nationwide. This is the equivalent of adding a full percentage point on an 8 percent, 30-year mortgage. How do you think our constituents would feel if they woke up paying another full percentage point on their home loans. Well, if you don't think they would like it, you had better not tell them about the Davis-Bacon Act.
This act is a bureaucratic nightmare, it inflates costs for States, localities and for the American people, and it freezes small business out of Federal construction contracts. It does not ensure higher quality, or faster work for all the extra cost, it just protects higher-paying union shops from getting undercut by their more efficient nonunion competitors. It is counter-intuitive and antifree market. It is an idea whose time may never really have come, but clearly has gone.
If we had a chance to put this law on the books today, I don't think that we would take it. We will soon have an opportunity to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. Let's reaffirm our commitment to the free market, to open and fair competition, and most of all, to the American taxpayer. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the repeal of the Davis-
Bacon Act.
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