House Votes to End Prison Labor Preference The House voted to end Federal Prison Industries’ mandatory source preference in federal contracting and to prohibit the prison labor corporation from bidding on small business set-aside contracts. The Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act, H.R. 1829, was adopted on a 350-65 vote Nov. 6. It now goes to the Senate, but is not likely to come up for a vote there until next year. If it becomes law, the legislation could open many new opportunities for small firms. The Bush administration has taken no public position on the bill. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) declared that FPI’s ability to claim any contract it wants “throws law-abiding, tax-paying citizens out of work.” The bill would phase out FPI’s mandatory source preference over the next five years. “We still allow Federal Prison Industries to compete for the business, but we put it on a level playing field with private manufacturers,” said the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI). The House adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA) that would prohibit FPI from bidding on small business set-asides. Toomey said, “It seems abundantly obvious to me that FPI does not qualify as a small business.” The corporation’s 2002 revenues totaled $679 million. Rep. Hoekstra has been working on the legislation for seven years. It had been blocked by opponents who charged it would eliminate job opportunities for inmates, leaving them with time on their hands and mischief on their minds. Unions representing prison guards were among the strongest opponents, because they believe idle inmates are more likely to cause trouble. “You cannot put a man in prison for years and expect him to be rehabilitated without working,” said Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA). Hoekstra won over some opponents by adding provisions that would authorize new programs to provide education and vocational training for inmates and to permit them to work for nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, homeless shelters and day-care centers. The four-hour House debate revealed unusual divisions in the ranks of both liberals and conservatives, producing some strange bedfellows. Conservative Republicans such as Sensenbrenner were joined by liberal Democrats such as Barney Frank (D-MA) in favoring the bill; opponents included the conservative Henry Hyde (R-IL) and liberal Democrat Maxine Waters (CA). On final passage, 196 Republicans, 153 Democrats and one independent voted for the bill; 25 Republicans and 40 Democrats voted against it. Leading the opposition, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) said FPI’s sales account for just one-quarter of one percent of federal purchases. But Rep. Frank said FPI’s largest product lines take contracts away from industries that are already struggling: “Right now a vulnerable section of our population, people who work in the textile industry, people who work in the garment industry, people who work in the furniture industry, they are the ones who have to bear the brunt of financing prison rehabilitation.” Scott defended the prison industries program, saying, “This is a program that reduces crime while it pays for itself.” Congress voted in 2002 to end FPI’s mandatory source status in Defense Department procurement. The Hoekstra bill applies to all agencies’ purchases.