Exempt Obama's Jobs bill from Davis-Bacon

Today, Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson responded to Barack Obama's call for an infrastructure bank:

Barack Obama's call for an infrastructure bank could be worth looking at, but only if all such spending is specifically exempt from Davis-Bacon union wage guarantees, and is accompanied by off-setting spending reductions elsewhere in the bloated budget. Otherwise, it will just be a payout to Obama's big labor political allies in the midst of the worst sovereign debt crisis in history.

This is a great idea! I hope Republicans do not reject President Obama's proposal outright. After he reveals how his proposal is to be funded, I hope Congress will use his proposal as a starting point to create something that will get American's back to work. Republicans in Congress, however, should not accept that spending now will be off set by spending cuts in future years. One Congress cannot bind the spending decisions of the next Congress. While I hope to see Obama defeated as much as anyone, I think President Obmaba is right and we cannot wait 18 months to try and address the unemployment crisis. Also, America's infrastructure is falling apart and their is road and bridge and sewer work that must be addressed and cannot be put off forever.

If Obama is serious about getting Americans back to work and his speech was nothing more than campaign posturing, then he should readily agree to remove Davis-Bacon from any jobs bill. In Nashville, Davis Bacon requires a wage of $12.94 for painters and sandblasters. I bet that in today's economy a contractor could get painters for considerably less than that. Why should the federal government, rather than the market, decide the wage rate paid for every position on a construction project? Exempt projects from Davis-Bacon, put more people to work and get more accomplished for the same amount of money.

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