Chamber Urges Congress to Withhold Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce today urged Congress to deny the Administration funds to implement their controversial blacklisting rule through the appropriations process. The Chamber has charged that the proposed procurement rule is arbitrary and ambiguous, lacking adequate standards or guidance.

"The Administration is proceeding with this blacklisting rule despite the fact that Congress has long considered and never approved similar legislation," said Randel Johnson, Chamber vice president for labor and employee benefits. "Congress rightly approved legislation to withhold funding and stop Administration efforts to bypass the legislative process."

A bipartisan amendment to the Treasury – Postal appropriations bill, sponsored by Reps. Tom Davis (R-VA) and Jim Moran (D-VA) and supported by the Chamber, denies funds to enforce the rule until the General Accounting Office (GAO) has determined whether the regulations are justified.

The new rule would effectively "blacklist" companies from eligibility to receive government contracts if they do not have a "satisfactory" record of compliance with employment, tax, anti-trust, environmental or consumer protection laws. But there is no definition of what would be considered "satisfactory," according to the Chamber. Government agents would have virtually unlimited power to decide who can compete for the government's business.

"Even the most well-intentioned business can get caught in the maze of confusing and often conflicting agency rules and regulations," said Johnson. "Ask the Clinton Administration, which has had tens of thousands of charges filed against it."

The General Accounting Office estimates that companies with federal contracts and subcontracts employ 23 million American workers. A federal contracting officer's subjective decision to deny a company a federal contract, could put that company and its employees out of business, according to the Chamber, and would hit small businesses especially hard.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

# # #

00-115