In a letter to U.S. House Representatives, ABC urged members to support an amendment to the House appropriations bill (H.R. 8294) that would prevent the use of federal funds to support flawed, inflationary Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements. The amendment failed by a vote of 165-264.
“While some in Congress seek to expand Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements, it has been shown that the Davis-Bacon Act, as currently administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, unnecessarily hinders economic growth and stifles contractor productivity by mandating wage rates on federal construction projects that fail to reflect true, market-based rates,” said ABC in a statement.
“The main culprit for these frequent discrepancies is the flawed, unscientific wage survey process that the DOL uses to calculate these so-called ‘prevailing’ wages. The Government Accountability Office has found widespread errors in the Davis-Bacon wage determination process and noted that it suffers from a serious lack of transparency,” added ABC.
ABC will continue to educate members of Congress about the burdens these flawed wage requirements place on the construction industry, push back against the Biden Administration’s ill-advised rule, and advocate for commonsense reforms to Davis-Bacon regulations that will provide clarity for contractors and create accurate and timely prevailing wages.