Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement blasting 36 House Republicans for defeating an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have repealed the 82-year old Davis-Bacon prevailing wages mandate for federal contractors:

"Prevailing wages demand that the U.S. Department of Labor set the cost for labor for federal government construction contractors rather than having the taxpayers get the benefit of competitive labor cost bidding. The impact of Davis-Bacon on increasing the cost of government has been so extreme that the 2012 Republican National Committee's official platform called for its repeal.

"Yet when given the opportunity, 36 House Republicans broke their own party's promise to do away with these requirements that unnecessarily cost billions of additional tax dollars every year. Apparently, the platform is not worth the paper it's printed on."