Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives considered and approved legislation, H.R. 2029, making appropriations for “military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs and related agencies.”
Unfortunately, about 50 congressional Republicans, including Rep. Dave Reichert from Washington’s 8th Congressional District, joined with Democrats to shoot down two amendments to the legislation that would have protected taxpayers and rolled back special privileges for unions at the VA.
According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the first amendment would have prohibited union “official time,” defined as “the practice of taxpayers paying for workers’ time spent on union business rather than official U.S. government work.”
CEI notes,
U.S. taxpayers pay 259 VA employees to work exclusively on union matters, rather than to help veterans. The cost of official time for the VA in FY2012 was more than $45 million.
At a time when there are more than 400,000 veterans who have been waiting more than 30 days for an appointment at the VA, it is inexcusable for the VA to allow hundreds of employees to operate exclusively on official time. In other words, they are only working on union activities instead of helping veterans.
Forty-nine House Republicans, including Reichert, joined with Democrats to vote down the amendment.
The second amendment, as described by CEI, would have prohibited “Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements for projects funded by the bill.”
According to CEI,
- The Davis-Bacon Act is an 80-year-old federal wage-subsidy law for government construction, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) observes that other federal and state laws and changes in labor markets eliminate the need for it.
- A suspension of Davis-Bacon would bolster job creation, productivity and economic growth.
- Inflated Davis-Bacon wages are not merited from hard work, but forced by special interest.
- Organizations could hire approximately 20 percent more workers by paying market wages.
- In November 2013, CBO listed Davis Bacon Act repeal as an option to reduce the deficit.
- CBO estimated Davis-Bacon raises federal construction costs by $15.7 billion over 10 years.
Fifty-two House Republicans, including Reichert, voted with Democrats against the amendment.
Reichert was the only Washington Republican to vote against the amendments. Washington state Reps. Cathy McMorris (R-5th Congressional District) and Dan Newhouse (R-4th Congressional District) voted in favor of both amendments, while Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-3rd Congressional District) did not vote.
The unamended legislation ultimately passed the House 255-163.
