Larsen Fights for Working Families in Military Construction Bill

Press Release

Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, tonight voted to protect vital worker protections that protect the middle class. During consideration of a military construction spending bill, Larsen voted to ensure unionized workers can compete for federal construction contracts and that federal contracts pay local prevailing wages.

"House Republicans showed tonight they are as committed as ever to their attacks on union workers. These unwarranted efforts to strip well-established worker protections are the opposite of what Congress should be doing. We should be trying to rebuild our economy by investing in our workers and our infrastructure. These efforts would be a blow to the middle class, preventing private unionized construction workers from competing for federal contracts.

"Rather than continuing these baseless attacks on working families, we need to be focused on investing in our infrastructure, expanding job opportunities and growing wages for all Americans."

The House of Representatives considered two amendments to an appropriations bill for military construction projects. The first removed a measure that would have directed government agencies to require contractors for large-scale federal construction projects to negotiate or participate in labor agreements with unions. That amendment passed. The second amendment would have stripped Davis-Bacon requirements, which require federal construction projects to pay wages at the prevailing level in the region of the project. That amendment failed.

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