What Took Them So long?
Well, after letting thousands of poor Americans die intentionally, the Bush Administration has wasted no time in stepping up to fuck over the people who are going to help out:
"Some Houstonians who plan on moving to Louisiana and points east to get work in the Katrina rebuilding effort may discover their wages won't be as high as they might have expected. That's because President Bush signed an executive order last week rescinding the rule [under the Davis-Bacon Act] that contractors on projects receiving federal money pay the prevailing wage in areas damaged by the hurricane." (see more in the Houston Chronicle)
But wait! It gets even better!
"And he wants to suspend prevailing wage rules for service workers, too: But the Bush folks face a problem in suspending the Service Contract Act. Davis-Bacon has a specific provision allowing the President to suspend it during a national emergency. The Service Contract Act does not, and its suspension may be unprecedented, labor experts say." (from Talking Points Memo)
You know, come to think of it, we're really tired of all those fats cats living high on the hog off of their "required by law" minimum wages, too. Let's get rid of that shit while we're at it..