Raising the cost of construction on Guam

Washington Post:

Alittle-publicized provision in the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill approved by the House last week would double the $10 billion cost of construction on Guam as part of the realignment of U.S. military forces in the Pacific.

The planned move of 8,000 U.S. Marines and about 3,600 other U.S. military troops and their dependents from Okinawa and mainland Japan to Guam over the next five years was originally expected to cost about $15 billion.

Of that total, $10 billion would be in construction of facilities, family housing and public utilities.

But a provision in last week's House bill would require that construction companies pay their employees working on Guam's realignment construction projects wages equivalent to rates in Hawaii, which are 250 percent higher than those on Guam, according to the Joint Guam Program Office.

The Congressional Budget Office report attached to the House bill estimates the growth in labor costs from this provision alone "would increase the need for discretionary appropriations by about $10 billion over the 2010-2014 period."

...

Would you believe that the provision was authored by a Democrat from Hawaii? He is very generous with tax dollars. This is just another form of corruption in reality. The government should be trying to get the best products and services at the best price like any rationale consumer. There is nothing rational about this bill. Democrats should be embarrassed if they were capable of that emotion. The money saved would more than pay for the missile defense the Democrats are trying to cut. It tells you something about their priorities on national security.