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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Economy : Elections & Legislation : Labor : Regime |
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BUSH WAGE CUTS FOR RELIEF WORKERS MAY BE LEGAL ERROR |
Current rating: 0 |
by Secrecy News
(No verified email address) |
16 Sep 2005
|
"The propriety of the President's action in this case may be
ultimately determined in the courts," the CRS report stated
delicately. |
On September 8, President Bush issued a proclamation suspending the
minimum wage requirements for relief workers engaged in Katrina
recovery operations.
But in order to do so, he relied upon a statutory authority that
has been dormant for thirty years and that appears to be legally
inoperative.
"I find that the conditions caused by Hurricane Katrina constitute
a 'national emergency' within the meaning of section 3147 of title
40, United States Code," President Bush declared on September 8 as
he removed the Davis Bacon Act wage supports for workers in
Louisiana, and portions of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
But this emergency statute was one of numerous authorities that
were rendered dormant by the National Emergencies Act of 1976, and
that can only be activated by certain procedural formalities that
were absent in this case.
In particular, the President must formally declare a national
emergency under the National Emergencies Act, and he must specify
which standby legal authorities he proposes to activate so as to
permit congressional restraint of emergency powers.
Strangely, however, President Bush proceeded as if the National
Emergencies Act did not exist.
The September 8 presidential declaration was "an anomaly,"
according to a new Congressional Research Service assessment, and
it did not follow "the historical pattern of declaring a national
emergency to activate the suspension authority."
"The propriety of the President's action in this case may be
ultimately determined in the courts," the CRS report stated
delicately.
The newly updated CRS report, written by Harold C. Relyea, traces
the evolution of emergency powers and includes a tabulation of
declared national emergencies from 1976-2005.
See "National Emergency Powers," Congressional Research Service,
updated September 15, 2005 (esp. pp. 18-19):
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf
The President's September 8 proclamation is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050908-5.html
Why would the President deviate from established practice in this
way?
One subject matter expert consulted by Secrecy News rejected the
idea that there was any self-interested motive at work, and noted
that the President had properly invoked the National Emergencies
Act in previous cases.
"I think it's just poor staff work at the White House," he said.
But if it was an innocent mistake, that doesn't mean it is an
inconsequential one.
"The hell-to-pay could come if a union or some affected worker
decides this [wage cut] was improperly done" and files a lawsuit
to challenge it, a possibility implicitly raised by the CRS above.
Meanwhile, taking the President's proclamation at face value, Rep.
George Miller and several dozen other members of Congress
introduced a bill to undo what the President has proposed.
H.R. 3763, introduced on September 14, would "reinstate the
application of the wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to
Federal contracts in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina."
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
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