Congress moves to slash prevailing wages on federal construction projects
H.R. 4148 — To provide that the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to "Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation" shall have no force or effect. · Filed by Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 25, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill nullifies a Department of Labor rule that updated wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon Act, which mandates prevailing wages on federal construction projects. The rule, finalized in August 2023, would have increased the wages contractors must pay workers on federally funded construction. Blocking it means contractors can pay lower wages on these projects.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to void a rule that raised prevailing wages on federal construction projects. Its functional effect is deregulation of labor costs on federally funded work, benefiting contractors at worker expense.
What the text implies
- Federal construction projects will become cheaper to bid and execute, potentially accelerating project timelines but at the cost of worker compensation.
- The wage reduction may disproportionately affect workers in lower-wage regions where prevailing-wage floors provide the largest protection.
- State and local governments using federal funds for construction will see reduced labor costs, potentially freeing funds for other purposes or reducing project budgets.
- Contractors bidding on federal work gain competitive advantage by reducing labor-cost exposure, but non-union and smaller firms may see wage pressure increase.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Construction workers on federally funded projects lose wage protections and face lower prevailing-wage floors. The bill transfers savings from wage costs to federal contractors and project owners, reducing worker compensation without a corresponding public benefit.
Who stands to gain
- construction contractors
- construction project owners
- federal and state agencies managing construction budgets
Named in the bill
Department of Labor, Davis-Bacon Act, prevailing wage, federal construction, 88 Fed. Reg. 57526
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 15 Republicans.
- Jun 25, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $256,377 in lobbying spend. A filing names 54 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Lloyd Smucker, the sponsor, reported $853,756 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Associated General Contractors of America — $216,377 on 1 filing
- Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,203 characters) on Jul 6, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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