GOP may ax wage law on fed projects
IT’S BEEN AN unfulfilled dream for conservative Republicans for decades: Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act.
Now, a quixotic remark earlier this month from President Trump has some GOP lawmakers wondering if the time has come to get rid of the law that mandates a set wage for construction workers on major federal projects.
Trump took everyone by surprise when he told The New York Times on April 5 that he was going to make an announcement about the Davis-Bacon Act in two weeks. “It’s going to be good,” he said, without offering any details.
That, coupled with the fact his proposed $1 trillion infrastructure plan might need some sweeteners to get full GOP approval, set the labor world on edge.
On the campaign trail, Trump made a great show of befriending blue-collar workers in the construction trades and their labor leaders. The Davis-Bacon Act, created in 1931, has the strong backing of the trades unions — and the Democratic Party, along with many moderate Republicans.
Trump invited construction unions to the Oval Office after his election — but during the closed-door meeting he was noncommittal about Davis-Bacon, according to a source briefed on the talk. “He was asked about keeping it in place, but he didn’t say what his position was. He just said there wasn’t enough votes for a repeal,” the source said.
Rep. Peter King (R—L.I.) said there’s no reason to worry. “From my own conversation with the leaders of the trades unions, Trump made real inroads with them ... I would be surprised and disappointed if the President took action against Davis-Bacon,” King told the Daily News.
Trump does have some precedent, however, for temporarily suspending it.
“President Bush, the first one, did it for areas affected by Hurricane Andrew. His son did it again after Hurricane Katrina, along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana,” said Gary Burtless, labor market economist for the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in D.C.
Trump could make a case for suspending Davis-Bacon in parts of the country with the biggest unemployment in order to promote job growth, Burtless said. “FDR suspended Davis-Bacon during the Great Depression to make the rollout of the New Deal easier,” he noted.
But King said there have been no rumblings on Capitol Hill about getting the pork out of Davis-Bacon. “We’ve always been able to defeat these efforts. I haven’t heard any more talk than usual,” said King, a Long Island Republican.
There are even some hidden Davis-Bacon supporters among GOP hardliners — although they don’t advertise that fact. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has been one of its strongest backers since he got to Congress in 1998 — consistently voting down efforts to repeal or weaken it.