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Bush Blinks on Davis-Bacon Suspension, Dems Still Angry
By Randy Hall

Oct 27, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - A leading Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives
Wednesday said President Bush has agreed to restore the provisions of the
Davis-Bacon Act in the areas battered last month by Hurricane Katrina
"because he had no other choice."

When Bush announced on Sept. 8 that he was suspending the Davis-Bacon Act, a
law requiring that "prevailing wages" be paid to workers on government
projects, he said he was doing so to save money and provide more jobs in
Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. He also indicated the
suspension was necessary because the situation in the Gulf Coast constituted
a "national emergency."

But in a statement released Wednesday, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the
senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, claimed that
Bush "finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt
the workers and their families affected by Katrina.

"[L]et me be clear -- the president is backing down today only because he
had no other choice," Miller added.

According to Miller, Bush is "bowing to pressure from a united Democratic
front, a small group of members of his own party, the religious community
and the labor movement.""

Miller called the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act "just another example"
of the president's "incompetence as a leader in a time of crisis and of his
constant need to reward the private agendas of his special special-interest
friends rather than attend to the needs of all the people affected by this
storm."

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, congressional Democrats and
leaders of organized labor condemned Bush's decision to rescind the
Davis-Bacon Act in the region damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Miller claims Bush's decision violated the 1976 National Emergencies Act,
which states that the president must formally declare a national emergency
and specify which standby legal authorities he would activate to permit
congressional restraint of emergency powers.

As a result, Miller introduced a joint resolution on Oct. 20 to "reinstate
the application of the wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to federal
contracts in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina."

"This extraordinary action is necessary because the Republican leadership is
failing to fulfill its responsibility to investigate the wages being paid in
the Gulf and to honor the will of at least half of the members of the House
that oppose the president's wage cut to hard-working Americans helping to
rebuild roads, bridges, schools and hospitals," Miller said when introducing
the measure.

"The president has exploited a national tragedy to cut workers' wages, a
long-sought goal among his right-wing cronies," Miller added on Oct. 20.
"The prevailing wages along the Gulf Coast were already among the lowest in
the country. How does the president think that $11.01 per hour is too much
to pay a dump truck driver in New Orleans or that $7.45 an hour is too much
to pay a pipe layer in Mississippi?"

Because the GOP doesn't have the votes to allow the suspension to stand,
Miller said, Bush has "no option but to reverse his mistake."

As a result of Bush's decision, Miller's resolution is now moot. The
National Emergencies Act is nearly 30 years old, and this was the first time
a lawmaker had ever invoked its procedures. By law, Congress is required to
act on such resolutions within 15 calendar days of their being introduced.

While House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also praised the
administration's action, she stated that Democrats still "stand united
against the president's anti-worker agenda.

"The president should also overturn his shameful suspension of affirmative
action and small business requirements in the Katrina rebuilding," she
added. "Now is not the time to be undoing years of progress by executive
order."

Telephone calls seeking comment from the White House on Bush's reversal were
not returned by press time. However, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao
explained Wednesday that "in response to the unprecedented devastation
caused by Hurricane Katrina, the president temporarily suspended the
Davis-Bacon Act as part of an administration-wide effort to remove as many
barriers as possible to aid the recovery efforts in the impacted areas.

"Upon review of current conditions in the declared areas, the administration
will re-instate Davis-Bacon Act provisions, effective Nov. 8," she added.