ABC Responds to Trump Administration's Defense of Davis-Bacon Rule
Associated Builders and Contractors has issued a statement in response to the U.S. Department of Labor informing a federal court that it has determined not to engage in any additional rulemaking to repeal or further revise former President Joe Biden’s 2023 final rule, updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations.
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The Davis-Bacon Act and related regulations require contractors and subcontractors that perform work on federal and federally funded construction projects to pay a government-determined prevailing wage and benefit rate.
The Department of Labor previously agreed not to oppose entry of a final judgment vacating three provisions of the 2023 rule, but additional challenges to the rule remain pending in a suit filed by ABC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
“Despite President Trump’s stated goals of unwinding excessive regulation, ensuring careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars and uplifting the small businesses that employ our nation’s workers, his administration has again doubled down on the regulatory overreach of former President Biden,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs. “It is disappointing that the DOL has declined to issue proposed rules to broadly restore the Reagan reforms to the survey process and make other much-needed changes to the regulations.
Swearigen noted that the rules place unnecessary administrative burdens on contractors, limit usage of innovative, effective, multiskilling approaches that benefit both workers and employers, hamper small business participation in federal contracting and arbitrarily increase costs for taxpayers.
“Unfortunately, this mirrors the Trump administration’s misguided decision to continue the Biden administration’s government-mandated project labor agreements policy, which has led to federal procurement delays affecting dozens of projects, billions of dollars of federal spending and thousands of jobs,” she said. “Not only are these decisions bad policy, they are bad politics.”
Recent polls show that merit shot construction workers harmed by the policies are a critical part of the coalition that elected Trump.
“ABC will continue its challenge against this antiquated regulation as we fight to defend the merit shop, taxpayers and free enterprise,” Swearingen said. “ABC has moved for summary judgment in the federal district court seeking to set aside a considerably greater portion of the Biden rule.”
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