NRCC to go on offensive over farm bill’s Davis-Bacon wage provisions

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) plans to attack Democrats who vote for prevailing wage provisions in the farm bill, calling it another union handout that hurts small-business owners and rural constituencies.

Republicans will offer an amendment that would strike the Davis-Bacon provisions from the bill. They will likely be voted on today or Thursday, and Republicans are ready to pounce.

{mosads}Recognizing the electoral importance of rural areas, the NRCC says the vote on wages could help Republicans win some of rural America, much of which is not unionized.

It says the Davis-Bacon provisions are the third big labor union handout since the 2006 elections, following another Davis-Bacon vote and the card-check legislation, which allows unions to organize without secret ballots.

Davis-Bacon provisions require public-works contractors to pay workers locally prevailing wages. It has been applied to housing, transportation and other statutes since the law passed 75 years ago.

Several vulnerable Democrats have received advertising support from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union in recent weeks.

“Those Democrats who masqueraded as friends of the small-business community or pandered to rural voters will be held to account by the NRCC,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “In just six months, this Democrat[ic]-led Congress has passed a number of union giveaways, which clearly explains why they have come rushing to the defense of vulnerable Democrat[ic] incumbents with radio and television ads distorting their abysmal records.”

Unions and Democrats pointed out that many Republicans have voted in favor of Davis-Bacon provisions in the past, including 50 of them earlier this year. They say the argument is old and hasn’t worked even on some of their colleagues.

They add the farm bill represents a significant new investment in energy independence.

“Republicans are creating yet another false choice between paying a prevailing wage and ensuring America’s energy independence,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Doug Thornell. “Republicans’ smoke and mirrors can’t hide their own opposition to prevailing wage and record of opposing energy independence.”

The farm bill includes a program that would guarantee loans for ethanol plant construction only if Davis-Bacon is applied to the contracts.

Republicans oppose this, saying that in states that don’t mandate union wages, the cost of labor would far outweigh the value of the loan guarantee.

By killing the program in those states, they say, Davis-Bacon would ensure that the new plants remain unbuilt. Voting for Davis-Bacon is tantamount to a vote against energy independence, the GOP says.

Republicans will launch a media offensive on the issue and work to appeal to agricultural communities.

Their efforts will focus on vulnerable Democrats who sit on the Agriculture Committee, including Reps. Jim Marshall (Ga.), Brad Ellsworth (Ind.), Tim Walz (Minn.) and Tim Mahoney (Fla.), but will also include other vulnerable members who vote for the provisions.