[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 59 (Thursday, March 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OSHA DID NOT INHALE

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, remember when Bill Clinton was asked if he 
had ever used drugs, he repeatedly told us that he had never violated 
the laws of the United States.
  Finally, he admitted he had smoked marijuana, but ``only'' in Britain 
and he did not ``inhale.'' In other words, Bill Clinton's earlier 
responses were legally accurate, but they did not contain much truth.
  This same technique is now being used by the Labor Department to 
defend OSHA. You have recently been told that OSHA does not prohibit 
roofers from chewing gum, cite employers for failing to have Material 
Data Safety Sheets for dishwashing detergent, nor prohibit dentists 
from giving children back their baby teeth.
  Technically speaking, the Labor officials are correct; OSHA does not 
do any of these things--anymore. It has, it did, and absent the 
criticism heaped on OSHA by industry and Congress, it probably still 
would.
  The next time an OSHA official tells you that OSHA does not cite 
employers for Joy dishwashing detergent, ask them when they stopped. 
These stories are not fiction--they are real. The fiction is OSHA's 
denial that its regulations are out of control.


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