Not a wage cut...

Talking Points Memo provided the transcript of the parts of a press conference with Scott McClellan about the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 (ensuring that federal contracts pay prevailing wages in the region in which they are awarded). In effect, it serves as a union-busting measure, as the prevailing wages in the industries most likely to be part of the rebuilding effort are the result of unions' hard work in trying to equalizing the power at the bargaining table. Instead, Scott McClellan gave the reason (over and over, as he always does) that suspending the Davis-Bacon Act:

"will open up access to more business -- small businesses, including women-owned and minority-owned businesses. It cuts through the red tape and helps us move forward quickly to address the needs of the people in the region and to provide substantial savings."

This is the most ridiculous explanation that he could have given as many of the contracts are going to firms that are the most politically connected, large corporations that can't be called women- or minority-owned, like Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root, Bechtel and Fluor Corp. The only red tape it cuts through is the "red tape" of accountability and a responsibility to help the local community and economy get back on their feet. It will not, as McClellan mistakenly claims, provide "substantial savings" because there is nothing in the suspension that forces the contractors to pass savings in wages on to the government. It is purely a hand-out of even more profit potential to politically connected firms at the expense of the people and economy of the Gulf Coast.