posted by Miriam V.

A Shameful Proclamation - New York Times
The New York Times

September 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.