Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Ranking Member Betty McCollum.

We can raise the living standards for working families all over the country right now if we use Federal dollars to create good jobs. The United States Government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, and the United States Government should use that power to create good jobs and to create a high-road economy for all Americans.

My amendment would reprogram funds to create an Office of Good Jobs in the Interior Department that would do the following: it would help ensure the Department's procurement, grant-making, and regulatory decisions encourage the creation of decently paid jobs, collective bargaining rights, and responsible employment practices.

Mr. Chairman, it is important for all Americans to know that more than 1 in 5 Americans are employed by companies with Federal contracts. Right now the U.S. Government is America's leading low-wage job creator.

That is right. The United States Government, at this very hour, funds over 2 million low-paying jobs through contracts, loans, and grants with corporate America. That is why more than the total number--the total number of low-wage workers employed by Walmart and McDonalds combined do not equal the number of low-wage jobs funded by the United States Government.

That is right. Wal-Mart and McDonald's combined have fewer low-wage jobs than are funded by the Federal Government right now. U.S. contract workers earn so little that nearly 40 percent of them use public assistance programs like food stamps and Section 8 to feed and shelter their families.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum).

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, let me point out that the gentleman confuses the debarment process, which says that we are going to look at the very worst actors and exclude them and the Office of Good Jobs, which would say that we will use education and we will use prioritization to make sure that the best employers are the ones that the American taxpayer is going to employ in order to award contracts. It is just a simple matter of understanding the difference between excluding the very worst and rewarding the best.

I think that the American people would like to see the Federal Government say: You are a good employer, you pay good wages and good benefits, and we think that that kind of practice is the kind of thing we like to see, and, therefore, our Office of Good Jobs is going to prioritize such businesses.

Time and time again, we hear Members of the party opposite confuse the debarment process with the Office of Good Jobs concept. It is a big difference, and I think that the American people would agree that where we find the best practices, we should reward them, not simply create a big, big bottle, a big, big vat of the best competing with the mediocre, and then exclude the very, very worst.

I just want to make this point. This is good for good contractors in many ways, because if you are an excellent contractor and you go out of your way to reward good workers and help create a hybrid economy, you are still competing with the people who are doing the bare minimum they can just to avoid debarment. I think that is not fair to good contractors. I think good contractors ought to be rewarded.

I think that if we establish this Office of Good Jobs, what we will see is a general wave throughout our economy as the private sector will look to the Federal Government as to what the best ways to create a fair economy could be, and we would see a greater measure of economic equality and opportunity throughout the land.

I just want to say that if the system we had was adequate, why, then, would we have 40 percent of all people who work for Federal contractors eligible for Federal Government programs, like Section 8 and food stamps? Why would we see that? Well, because we are not prioritizing good jobs. We are just saying that if you are a lawbreaker, you will be excluded, but other than that, we don't really care. An Office of Good Jobs would change that.

Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``yes'' vote.

It is intended that the appropriation for Departmental Operations in the Office of the Secretary at the United States Interior Department be used to establish an Office of Good Jobs in the Department aimed at ensuring that the Department's procurement, grant-making, and regulatory decisions encourage the creation of decently paid jobs, collective bargaining rights, and responsible employment practices. The office's structure shall be substantially similar to the Centers for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships located within the Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Commerce, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Small Business Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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