U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) yesterday proposed legislation H.J.Res.132 to disapprove of the “Federal Acquisition Regulation: Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects.”
The rule, which went into effect in January, “mandates that Federal Government agencies require the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) for large-scale Federal construction projects, where the total estimated cost to the Government is $35 million or more, unless an exception applies.”
According to the White House, the rule “requires all parties—contractors, subcontractors, and unions—to negotiate set terms that govern project construction, the rule will lead to increased efficiency.”
[Note: Since January 20, 2021, the Department of Transportation has funded hundreds of PLA covered projects on over $10.4 billion of construction across ten states.]
At a House Oversight Committee meeting, Higgins said of the rule, “You know what’s gonna happen? The federal government gonna push these states too far.” He added, “If I was a governor I would seize those projects, and put them 100 percent under the sovereignty of my state.”
Republican Clay Higgins on Federal construction projects that use labor unions in states that have right to work laws: The federal government is going to push these states too far. If I was a governor, I would seize those projects. pic.twitter.com/oDkigL4NIJ
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2024
Higgins’s remarks on state sovereignty echo the opinion of Republican South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. At his 2024 State of State address, McMaster said: “One thing we do not need is more labor unions in South Carolina. We got where we are without them and we do not need them now. We are a right-to-work state.”
McMaster has vowed not to “allow the Biden administration’s vigorous pro-union policies to chip away at South Carolina’s sovereign interest,” and said, “We will fight all the way to the gates of hell, and we will win this battle.”