The Obama-era Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule was intended to prevent companies with a history of wage-theft and unsafe working conditions from getting federal government contracts; the GOP in the Senate and House passed a bill rescinding this rule and then Trump signed it, eliminating any possibility that companies that endanger and steal from workers will be excluded from receiving your tax dollars.
The rule had never been enforced; within days of its introduction, the Associated Builders and Contractors got an injunction suspending it pending a trial on its constitutionality (presumably stealing from workers is a form of protected speech under the Citizens United rule).
In a last-minute effort to fight for the rule earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a staff report that showed that 66 of the federal government's 100 largest contractors have at some point violated federal wage and hour laws. Since 2015, the report says, more than a third of the 100 largest OSHA penalties have been imposed on federal contractors.
Warren criticized the Republican-led effort during a speech on the Senate floor moments before the vote. "Instead of creating jobs or raising wages," she said, "they're trying to make it easier for companies that get big-time, taxpayer-funded government contracts to steal wages from their employees and injure their workers without admitting responsibility."
Trump signs bill that kills Obama-era rule targeting wage theft, unsafe working conditions [Kimberly Kindy/Washington Post]
(via Naked Capitalism)
