Senate rejects GOP plan to lower labor cost of FAA construction projects

The Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican proposal to lower labor costs in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) construction projects.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment to the FAA authorization bill that would have exempted infrastructure projects under the FAA from an 80-year old law, the Davis-Bacon Act. That act requires prevailing wages to be paid on public works projects.

Paul argued that exempting FAA from Davis-Bacon would allow the market to set construction wage rates, and thus would serve to keep costs in check. He estimated that his amendment would reduce the price of construction costs by $500 million in the context of FAA projects, and said his amendment is a small step toward reducing government spending. "If you can't vote for this one small step forward, you're not serious about balancing the budget," Paul said.

But Senate Democrats moved to set the amendment aside, and prevailed in a 55-42 vote.

Democrats argued that Davis-Bacon saves money in the long term by preventing "low-ball" contractors from underbidding on contracts and building unsafe infrastructure. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who is managing the FAA authorization bill, argued that the current law simply requires wages that are comparable to others in the region, and does not necessarily increase wage rates.

The Senate tonight also approved an amendment to the FAA bill from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that would allow fines and prison terms to be imposed on anyone who aims a laser pointer at aircraft. This was a non-controversial amendment and passed easily in a 96-1 vote. Only Paul voted against the Whitehouse amendment.

The Senate is slowly getting to a backlog of more than two dozen amendments to the FAA bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said tonight that the Senate would continue working on amendments and hopes to finish early in the week of Feb. 14.

Reid also said only those amendments directly related to the FAA would be considered, and said more votes can be expected Monday night and Tuesday morning. After that, Senate Democrats have a retreat scheduled that will take up the rest of next week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised Reid's handling of the FAA bill so far, and said it is being handled the way bills were handled "in the old days." Democrats have said they would consider amendments in pairs, one from Democrats, and one from Republicans.

Reid said the votes on the two amendments tonight are the last votes of the week in the Senate.