# What This Bill Actually Does

This bill is Congress's way of saying "no thanks" to a new federal rule about construction projects. Three government agencies—the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA—created a rule that would require construction companies working on federal building projects to sign "project labor agreements" with unions. If this bill passes, that rule gets thrown out and can't be used.

So what's a project labor agreement? It's basically a contract that says construction workers on a particular project have to be part of a union and follow union rules and pay scales. The federal agencies that created the rule believed this would lead to better-trained workers, fewer workplace accidents, and more stable working conditions on big government construction jobs. But opponents argue it drives up costs, limits which companies can bid on federal work, and gives unions too much power over federal construction projects.

If Congress approves this bill, federal agencies would go back to their old way of handling construction contracts without requiring these union agreements. This matters to construction companies bidding on federal work, to unions that represent construction workers, and ultimately to taxpayers who fund these federal building projects—since the cost of construction could go up or down depending on which approach is used. For most everyday Americans, the practical impact would likely show up in how much federal construction projects cost and how quickly they get completed, though those effects would be indirect and hard to notice in daily life.

Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration relating to the "Federal Acquisition Regulation: Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects".