WASHINGTON -- President Bush issued an executive order Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.
In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Davis-Bacon law requires federal contractors to pay workers at least the prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted. It applies to federally funded construction projects such as highways and bridges.
Bush's executive order suspends the requirements of the Davis-Bacon law for designated areas hit by the storm.
Bush's action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid, and drew rebukes from two of organized labor's biggest friends in Congress, Rep. George Miller of California and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.
"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities," Miller said.
"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," Miller said.
"I regret the president's decision," said Kennedy.
"One of the things the American people are very concerned about is shabby work and that certainly is true about the families whose houses are going to be rebuilt and buildings that are going to be restored," Kennedy said.
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Commentary:
The Bush administration is filled, top to bottom but especially at the top, with the most uncaring bastards ever to hold power in this nation.
What a complete kick in the teeth, to people who've survived the natural and man-made disasters called Katrina:
Bush has signed a special suspension of a 70-year-old law, so that predatory corporations like Halliburton can sweep across the ruined south, Louisiana and Mississippi and the other states hardest hit, and the corporations can make millions and billions rebuilding -- while paying sub-par wages to workers devastated by the hurricane and/or flood.
It doesn't matter what carpenters and plumbers, data entry clerks and janitors have been paid in the devastated area, that their household budgets are based on a certain wage, and now they'll have to stretch that wage to cover rebuilding their houses.
Nope, ruining their houses and towns might not be enough to ruin their lives, so let's reduce their wages!
This executive order makes it legal to take advantage of peoples' agony and pay them the lowest wages possible.
To the survivors of Katrina, the Bush-Cheney administration says, Let them eat crap. Let them work at half the wage they made before the storm hit. Or a third. Or less than that.
They're fucking monsters, Bush and Cheney and their ilk -- Godzillas in the Oval Office.
=H&HH=
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Aug. 29, 2005:
As Katrina strikes, FEMA urges first-responders not to respond
Sept. 2, 2005:
Who is this incompetent doofus running FEMA?
by Rachel R., Unknown News
Sept. 2, 2005:
Emergency crews turned back by FEMA:
They lacked "the required paperwork"
Sept. 2, 2005:
FEMA won't allow airboats to rescue Katrina victims
Sept. 2, 2005:
Troops sent to New Orleans for "combat operation"
with comments by Rebecca and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA chief had to be 'asked to resign' from previous job with horse club
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA turned back 500-boat rescue flotilla
Sept. 3, 2005:
Bush declares "zero tolerance" for New Orleans
survivors seeking food and water
Sept. 3, 2005:
Thousands of New Orleans refugees held at gunpoint,
not allowed to leave growing hell of Superdome
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
Homeland Security stops Red Cross from bringing food for New Orleans
with comments by Sir J and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
Police official says Nat'l Guardsmen 'played cards' amid New Orleans chaos
Sept. 4, 2005:
Red tape keeps hundreds of doctors from helping hurricane survivors
Sept. 4, 2005:
Homeland Security Chief says New Orleans disaster couldn't have been predicted
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
College sophomores used fake press passes to circumvent FEMA's rescue roadblocks
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
Navy hospital & water purification ship anchored on nearby coast, underused
Sept. 4, 2005:
FEMA turns down water, fuel for New Orleans, cuts area's emergency communication line
Sept. 5, 2005:
FEMA "dragging its feet" as businesses try to help hurricane, flood victims
Sept. 5, 2005:
Firefighters waited five days for FEMA's OK to enter New Orleans, then gave up, returned to Houston
Sept. 6, 2005:
Now is the time for pointing fingers
by John M., Unknown News
Sept. 6, 2005:
No food drops planned for New Orleans
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 6, 2005:
U.S. military smuggled white vacationers out of New Orleans Superdome squalor
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 6, 2005:
As New Orleans waits, FEMA sends firefighters to seminar, assigns them to hand out fliers
Sept. 6, 2005:
New Orleans during the disaster:
Police lied to survivors, blocked escape from city
by Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky, EMS NetworkFrom inside New Orleans as the crisis worsened, these survivors found that the authorities were never any help, and often an ugly enemy. =H&HH= | LINK
Sept. 6, 2005:
FEMA head specifically ordered lackadaisical response to "near catastrophic" Hurricane Katrina
Sept. 7, 2005:
International offers of help came immediately, but U.S. approval was delayed by days
Sept. 7, 2005:
FEMA's top-level management stacked with Bush's cronies
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 8, 2005:
FEMA contractors arrested for looting
with comments by Underground Panther in the Sky
Sept. 8, 2005:
Katrina survivors "evacuated" at the point of a gun
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 8, 2005:
Canadian search-and-rescue team first to reach New Orleans suburb
Sept. 9, 2005:
"Mission accomplished" in New Orleans
by Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Sept. 9, 2005:
Homeowners' guns confiscated in New Orleans, police threaten evacuation by force
with comments by Sir J and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 10, 2005:
FEMA sent back German plane carrying fifteen tons of food for hurricane victims
Sept. 11, 2005:
Experts question how much looting and mayhem really took place in New Orleans
with comments by The Coyote and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 11, 2005:
New Orleans doctors had to kill their patients
Sept. 11, 2005:
Sheriff threatens to arrest FEMA officials
Countermands FEMA order that stores remain closed
Sept. 12, 2005:
Racist police blocked bridge and forced evacuees back at gunpoint
with comments by Chris M. and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 13, 2005:
Chertoff delayed federal response to Katrina disaster, memo shows
Sept. 13, 2005:
As bodies are recovered, reporters are threatened: 'No photos, no stories'
Sept. 14, 2005:
Feds delayed Nat'l Guard's hurricane response for days
Sept. 16, 2005:
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims
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