[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 126 (Wednesday, October 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H9640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           URGING OSHA TO STOP CORRUPT ERGONOMICS RULE-MAKING

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, just when we thought the Clinton-Gore 
administration could not sink any lower, they always figure out another 
way. I recently learned that OSHA paid for 35 posthearing comments for 
the record on its proposed ergonomics rule. In effect, OSHA bureaucrats 
paid for what they wanted the public to hear and did not allow real 
public comments to stand. To make matters worse, OSHA paid for these 
comments with taxpayers dollars.
  This disregard for the mandated public comment period tells a story 
of the Clinton-Gore-AFL-CIO Labor Department. Mr. Speaker, this outrage 
bears repeating. Instead of independent reaction from the public at 
large, OSHA filled the ergonomics public records with comments from its 
own paid witnesses. If you can believe it, the story gets worse.
  When the public comment period was closed, OSHA allowed the ever-
biased National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, to 
submit over 3 years of scientific literature more than 6 weeks after 
the deadline. This, again, shows OSHA is hearing what it wants to hear, 
not what small businesses and the average American wants it to say. I 
strongly urge OSHA to stop this corrupt ergonomics rule-making and 
start over with a clean, fair, and objective rule-making process.

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