DeMint wants to cut red tape for rebuilding

LAUREN WILBERT, Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced a bill Tuesday intended to eliminate red tape for reconstruction of disaster areas by giving companies more flexibility in hiring workers for rebuilding projects.

The bill would suspend the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act for one year in disaster sites that receive an emergency declaration from the president. President Bush temporarily suspended Davis-Bacon Sept. 8 for areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Davis-Bacon requires companies that contract with the government to pay their employees a government-determined wage and hire only people with current job skills.

DeMint, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee on disasters, and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who is co-sponsoring a companion House bill, said the legislation would speed reconstruction in areas that can't wait on the bureaucratic process of Davis-Bacon.

Wilson said the measure would allow small businesses to participate in the much needed reconstruction effort by eliminating restrictions that discourage them from hiring temporary labor for nonconstruction needs.

DeMint said inexperienced workers are valuable in times of disaster for tasks such as clearing brush or driving supply and dump trucks.

But small businesses can't afford to pay temporary employees the same as senior-level construction workers, who still would be needed for the actual building work, he said.

"We're just trying to look at every aspect of not only preparedness but at how recovery can improve," DeMint said.

Wilson said the bill could face harsh opposition in the House from union-friendly congressmen because labor is "up in arms."

"It may be difficult to get approved, but the Gulf Coast will give a basis for the bill to pass," he said.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney released a statement Sept. 8 criticizing Bush's temporary suspension of Davis-Bacon for the Katrina reconstruction as handing employers the opportunity to exploit workers.

"Taking advantage of a national tragedy to get rid of a protection for workers the corporate backers of the White House have long wanted to remove is nothing less than profiteering," Sweeney said in calling for Congress to reverse Bush's action.

Reps. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., and Henry Brown, R-S.C., also are backing the House bill. DeMint said the he hopes to get the bill to the full Senate for a vote before the year's end after other emergency bills are passed.