[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 113 (Wednesday, August 4, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WORKPLACE PRESERVATION ACT

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                               speech of

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 3, 1999

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 987) to 
     require the Secretary of Labor to wait for completion of a 
     National Academy of Sciences study before promulgating a 
     study or guideline on ergonomics:

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Workplace 
Preservation Act and in support of American small business. All we're 
asking is for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to 
delay implementation of a new workplace ergonomics rule until the 
National Academy of Science finishes a study of the effects of 
workplace ergonomics.
  The rule that OSHA wants to implement is conservatively estimated to 
cost Americans $3.5 billion a year. As a small business owner, I am 
very concerned about how federal regulations affect people and their 
jobs. Too often the people who suffer are not only the small business 
owners, but also their employees. And the regulation being discussed by 
OSHA is indeed large. It could have harmful effects on the economies of 
the small towns that dot my district where there are not many choices 
of where to work. Often in Central, Southern, and Eastern Oregon, if 
you lose your job at the local tire store or construction company, 
there are no other employment choices.
  The federal government has already played a role in driving the 
unemployment rate in Grant County to almost 17% in April of this year 
by halting access to the federal lands that dominate the landscape of 
Oregon. Now it wants to micro-manage small business? I believe that 
before the federal government implements a drastic increase in its 
interference in America's small businesses, it needs all the 
information it can get on ergonomics. It is not too much to ask OSHA to 
wait to implement its rule until we have a chance to examine the 
ergonomics study being performed by NAS at the request of Congress.
  Mr. Chairman, I join the small business owners of America in thanking 
my friend from Missouri, Mr. Blunt, for his leadership on this 
important issue. I urge my colleagues to support this reasonable and 
pro small-business bill.

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