**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

**MAY 1, 2003**

**CONTACT: SETH BECKER**

**(202)225-4436**

** **

**SOUDER: FEDERAL PRISONS INDUSTRY MONOPOLY UNFAIR TO WIELAND, OTHER
LOCAL BUSINESSES**

 

*U.S. Rep. Souder took to the House floor yesterday to speak out against
Federal Prison Industries\' (FPI) monopoly on Federal Government
contracts for furniture.  FPI is an arm of the U. S. Department of
Justice which oversees work programs for federal inmates and markets the
products, such as office furniture, to federal agencies**.**  Unless FPI
grants waivers, the agencies are required to purchase FPI products
regardless of whether FPI  meets the specific needs of the agency or
whether FPI\'s price is competitive with the private sector.*** ** *Rep.
Souder is a cosponsor of HR 1829, which would restrict FPI\'s monopoly,
requiring it to compete on a fair basis for its contracts. The following
is an edited transcript of Rep. Souder\'s statement:*

 

\"I have a company \-- Wieland Furniture  \-- in my hometown of Grabill,
Indiana.  They have 40 employees, and 27 percent of their business
involves sales to the Federal Government that could be lost if FPI
decides to revoke waivers on the military bases, and they have lost
untold other jobs.

 

\"We would save taxpayer dollars if the government bought from the
private sector. Not only that, the furniture is built better. The sofas
hold together. The tables hold together.

   

\"The owners of Wieland Furniture ask me, could our employees get these
contracts if they get busted for dealing drugs? Could our employees get
these jobs if they go rob a bank? Could our employees, if they get
arrested for other crimes, then become eligible to make this furniture?

 

\"This is absolutely crazy. I believe that the stumbling block here is
that there are many Members here like me who want prisoners to work. I
am a strong supporter of Prison Fellowship and Justice Fellowship and
organizations that say people need to develop a skill while they are in
prison. But they need to develop a skill that does not take jobs from
American workers.

 

\"We are losing jobs all over the place. It is not that we do not want
to rehabilitate prisoners. It is not that we do not want them to learn a
skill. It is not that we do not want them to have some income when they
are done serving their sentence. But they are taking advantage of many
Members here who think that, oh, well, this is the only way we can help
them. If this was another industry, if it was the building industry,
they would be outraged if we said we would use prisoners to knock out
your contractors. They would be outraged if we said we were going to
knock out the restaurant business. They would be outraged if we said we
were going to knock out telecommunications. But because this industry is
concentrated in one area, and because of the general goodwill, there is
this misunderstanding that the Justice Department continues to take
advantage of, and it must be changed.

 

\"It should not be the situation in America that if you rob somebody and
deal drugs, you can sell furniture to the Federal Government, but if you
are honest, you cannot. There is something fundamentally wrong with
that. And it is particularly stupid when privately made furniture costs
less and is of better quality.  It makes no sense whatsoever.

 

\"I do not want to face people in my district who might have to wear a
button that says \'I follow the law, I am unemployed.\' It does not make
sense and it does not fly, and I hope more Members and staff will pay
attention to this debate. I hope that the Department of Justice will
turn around on this.\"

 

\###