mr. latourette and mr. pascrell and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> mr. chairman, i'd like to strike the last word. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for allowing me to speak in support of the latourette and pascrell amendment, to restore funding for fire and safer grants. ms. richardson: i'd like to thank congressman latourette and congressman pascrell for offering this amendment which enjoys bipartisan support which i strongly support. the yawn slot of natural disasters that we have seen across the country have shown that the neeled for first responders has increased, not decreased. many of us have been strong advocates for this program and recognize the inherent value of making sure our nation's first responders have the people and the equipment that they need in order to ensure our safety in all of our local communities. i support these programs. why? because they work. after an independ

mr. latourette: this is a simple, straightforward amendment. during the committee markup of the military construction bill and under the abled leadership of the subcommittee chairman, a motion -- an amendment was offered by mr. flake of arizona to deny funding to the presidential executive oer deing with project labor agreements. the amendment was accepted by voice vote and it's accepted by voice vote because quite ankly i codn't wrestle enough votes in the committee to overturn it. this continues a pattern we've seen in the congress. believe we've had on the floor four votes they are not davis-bacon should be law of the land. the pponents of davis-bacon had been successful. the last one garnering 52 republic votes. this would be the third vote by those who would wish to do away with project labor agreements that will occur on the house floor and the previous two, again, the proponents of project labor agreements have propelled. mr. chairman, basically project labor agreements are those greements wherein someone who is doing a construction proje

mr. latourette of ohio, an amendment by mr. cicilline of rhode island, an amendment -- amendment number 2 by mr. royce of california. amendment number 8 by mr. poe of texas. and amendment -- an amendment by mr. cuellar of texas. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in the series. the unfinished business is the question for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from ohio, mr. latourette, on which further proceed wrgs postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. k4r0eu7 amendment offered by mr. latourette of ohio. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representativ

mr. latourette's amendment which i hope the house the feets, we need to defeat it so we can encourage companieso compete for federal contracts. this amendment needs to be adopted to encourage them to compete for federal contracts. this would expand the universe of those who can compete and apply for work, as in texas, for example, on a highway project, we pay the competitive best price for bids and in the chamber of commerce's opinion if we eliminate the davis-bacon prevailing wage, it would save 15% on average on project construction. the cato institute a 10% savings. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? mr. culberson: i strike the last word. mr. cull behrson: if i could point out that the harris foundation estimates there will be 22% savings to taxpayers by eliminating the davis-bacon requirement, the beacon hill institute estimates a 0% savings, the -- a 10% savings this whole variety of savings if you line them up, we'll say for the sake of argument that there was about a 10% savings in construction costs. we as a nation, living on borrowed money should not voluntarily, will

mr. latourette in the last congress, and those are legitimate questions. w, i'm, i have a slightly different take on this, and mr. bloom, rather than an outright bailout was the support truly an investment, not only in if auto communities themselves, but in commitments, in the country and america's overall skill set to continue its manufacturing sectors. that -- >> i think -- >> that could have been lost, actually, if big three had gone down. >> i think a number of independent observers, congressman, have indicated that if general motors and chrysler had failed the auto supply space would have failed. the ceo of ford supported the auto restructuring for that very reason. i think the entire ability of the united states to make cars was at risk at that time. >> well, my colleague's right about the role of the taxpayers, but the taxpayers put in value. did they receive value back? >> i think what the taxpayers got back is, hopefully, they're going to get -- they have an automobile industry. they have all those people working, they have all those communities wi

resoundingly overturned that ill-advised move earlier today and adopted an amendment by from latourette and mr. pascrell to restore the funding to the president's requested level. but my colleagues should also be aware that funding is only part of the problem with this bill when it comes to the safer program. the underlying bill also neglects to maintain provisions enacted in fiscal years 2009-2011 that allows fire departments to use these grants to hire and lay off firefighters and prevent others from being laid off in the first place. the law traditionally permits safer grants only to be used to hire new staff. now, that provision makes sense when our economy is booming and local governments are in a position to hire new workers. but when the recovery is still fragile and local budgets are actually contracting and workers are being laid off, fema needs the flexibility to use these grants to keep firefighters from being cut in the first place. secretary napolitano and administrator fugate testified to this need earlier this year in our appropriations hearings. i am proposing a waiver amendmen