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PRESS STATEMENT |
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February 20, 2001 SENATORS SAY REGULATORY
SUSPENSION MAY BE UNLAWFUL WASHINGTON - Three senior Senators Tuesday informed Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell Daniels that the administration may be breaking the law by suspending for six-months a regulation requiring the government to hire contractors who obey federal laws protecting the public health, consumers, civil rights, the environment, and workers. Citing a Congressional Research Service legal memo, Senators Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in a letter to Daniels that the administration’s efforts to suspend the Contractor Responsibility Rule "are contrary to the public interest and... likely unlawful." Following is a copy of the letter, dated February 20, 2001: Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. We write to ask that you halt the Administration’s unwise and possibly unlawful efforts to suspend the requirement that the government not do business with chronic lawbreakers. The Contractor Responsibility Rule, which was proposed in July 1999 and finalized in December 2000, requires that, to qualify for a government contract, a business must have a record of satisfactory compliance with federal laws, including those protecting public health, workers, consumers, civil rights, and the environment. Recent Administration attempts to grant a six-month reprieve from the obligations of this rule are contrary to the public interest and, according to a legal memorandum issued by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, are likely unlawful. We support the common-sense principle embodied in the Contractor Responsibility Rule that government contracts should not be awarded to companies that routinely disregard laws designed to protect workers, the public, and the environment. The Federal Acquisition Regulation has always required that contractors exhibit a satisfactory record of "integrity and business ethics." The Contractor Responsibility Rule merely clarifies that "integrity and business ethics" includes satisfactory compliance with federal laws. This rule should provide a positive incentive for voluntary compliance with a range of tax, environmental, labor, civil rights, and consumer laws. Taxpayer-funded government contracts should go to companies that obey the law, not to chronic lawbreakers. We are particularly troubled by a coordinated effort by several departments and agencies to exempt themselves for six months from their Contractor Responsibility obligations without the thoughtful consideration required by law. Several departments and agencies have followed the course laid out in a January 31 memorandum from the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC), by giving themselves a half-year reprieve without public notice or soliciting and considering public comment. According to published news reports, the General Services Administration, NASA, and the Departments of Transportation and Interior are among those who have suspended implementation of the rule until July 16, and more agencies are in the process of granting themselves similar exemptions. While the CAAC memorandum expresses concern about the impact of the Contractor Responsibility Rule upon contracting agencies and their contractors, the memorandum makes no mention of the effect of the suspension upon any other parties or upon the public interest. For this and other reasons, the Congressional Research Service’s legal memorandum (a copy of which is enclosed with this letter) states that a suspension pursuant to the CAAC memorandum "would likely be held by a reviewing court to be legally deficient on its face." Legalities aside, it is unfair for the Administration to delay the implementation date for six months without notice or any consideration of the views of the public. The Contractor Responsibility Rule — which is the culmination of a multi-year process in which more than a thousand comments from interested parties were received and carefully considered — is a moderate and sensible reform, and we urge the Administration to implement it without further delay. We would appreciate receiving a response, at your earliest convenience, explaining how you intend to address our concerns. Thank you very much for your consideration. Joseph I.
Lieberman
Edward M. Kennedy Richard J. Durbin Enclosure Chairman Click
Here to Read the Congressional Research Service Memorandum |
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