Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, we have been through this fight before. Thankfully, we have been able to prevail with help on both sides of the aisle.

The gentleman referred to the 1930s. Anybody who is a student of history and a student of the U.S. economy knows that it was the period following the 1930s that we finally saw a steady progress toward greater wage equality in this country and we saw the middle class emerge and the strongest period of economic growth and income equality in our history, a period which is at risk right now.

I would urge the gentleman to take a look at the period that followed the enactment of Davis-Bacon, how the middle class was born, and I would also urge us to consider that, if not the Federal Government, who can we expect to set the example that a decent wage should be paid for a decent day's work. That is all this law does, and I support it wholeheartedly and urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.

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