U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) wants to know what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to do about “discriminatory behavior” by some state and local governments against federal contractors that plan to bid on infrastructure projects related to building President Donald Trump’s southern border wall between Mexico and California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Recent reports indicate that laws and ordinances passed in some cities and states blacklist these federal contractors, Rep. Roby said during an April 26 hearing held by the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies.
“When and how does the Department of Justice plan to respond to these state and local governments on this issue of discriminatory behavior?” Rep. Roby, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, asked U.S. Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions.
“We’ve made it clear that is not acceptable. We will not accept it,” Sessions responded during the hearing. “This is an unbelievable assertion of power that a government within the United States – city, county, or state – can refuse or blacklist a contractor because they performed a lawful contract on behalf of the United States of America to make our country safer.”
Rep. Roby pointed out that such actions to blacklist companies from her home state of Alabama and elsewhere around the country impact those that could “work on federal contracts, whether it is bolstering infrastructure for our southern border, maintenance on an Army Corps of Engineer project or new construction on a military base,” she said.
The congresswoman added that if the situation continues, “emboldened state and local officials will further discriminate against companies that perform any number of critical national security tasks for the federal government.”
Likewise, she said, the number of such discriminatory actions “could easily multiply” as these government officials “seek to deter the construction of anything they consider offensive to their own beliefs.”
The mere threat of discrimination, Rep. Roby added, could make private companies hesitant to deliver goods and services “necessary to protect our national security interests, specifically securing our southern border.”
AG Sessions scoffed at the actions of the state and local officials against federal contractors and said, “We don’t believe it is sustainable legally, and we will challenge it wherever there is a case to be proven.”
But Sessions acknowledged that some laws and ordinances have been passed and DOJ is “looking at what the legal remedies would be.”