Press Releases

For Immediate Release:                                                             Contact: Apryl Marie Fogel
April 19th, 2012                                                             AprylMarie.Fogel@mail.house.gov
 
                 Congressman Gosar Introduces Bill to Cut Waste and Save Billions

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S (R-AZ) introduced the Fiscal Responsibility in Federal Contracting Act (FRIFCA), H.R.4403. This legislation suspends the onerous and outdated wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act, saving the American taxpayer billions of dollars and allowing contractors to put more people to work.

“Our nation is in a fiscal crisis. It is long past time to restore sanity. Billions of wasted taxpayer dollars will be saved by the suspension of the often inflated and inaccurate wages initiated by the Davis Bacon Act.  I  will urge House Republicans to include my bill in the multi-year surface transportation bill," said Rep. Paul Gosar. 

"Instead of allowing federal bureaucrats to set inflated and inaccurate wage rates that increase the costs of federal projects, we need to unleash the power of the free market and allow businesses to put people back to work.  Business owners and families across the country have to figure out how to use limited funds efficiently every day.  The Federal Government should have to do the same.”

The Davis Bacon Act is a stark and long-standing example of how federal government interference in the market creates waste.    Passed  during the Great Depression, it is a monument to government inefficiency, waste and favoritism.  The Davis Bacon Act wage rates average 22% above market wages – inflating the cost of federal construction projects, keeping employers from hiring more workers, and locking low-skilled workers out of many construction jobs for which they could otherwise be hired. Republican and Democrat Presidents have suspended the law in tough economic times in order to stimulate the economy.

According to preliminary conservative estimates by the Congressional Budget Office, a ten-year suspension would save $15 billion over ten years.  A different estimate, conducted by the Heritage Foundation, projects that the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act would have saved the federal government nearly $11 billion in 2011 alone.

Congressman Gosar has led the effort to repeal this outdated, job-killing law in Congress.  Last year he offered two amendments to Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations bills to temporarily suspend the act for one year.  Additionally, he has cosponsored legislation (H.R.745), which would implement a full repeal.  Congressman Gosar has introduced FRIFCA to provide temporary relief for the American taxpayer and to provide future Congresses the data necessary to build support for a full repeal.

                                                                                                                             ###