[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 22, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT RESOLUTION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, Mr. President, on one final matter, last night 
the Senate voted to overturn a harmful regulation that undermines 
Alaska's authority to manage its wildlife resources and shifts more 
power toward Washington.
  Today, we will have yet another opportunity to bring Americans relief 
from heavyhanded regulations using a legislative tool provided by the 
Congressional Review Act.
  That proposal would undo the so-called Volks rule, which is named for 
the 2012 Federal court case overturning an ill-advised Obama 
administration regulatory action on the same subject. It is a 
regulation that purports to look out for the workers' best interests, 
but it actually does little to achieve that outcome. The Volks rule 
merely empowers Washington bureaucrats and increases paperwork burdens 
instead.
  As the Coalition for Workplace Safety pointed out, this regulation 
does ``nothing to improve worker health and safety,'' it ``directly 
contradicts both clear statutory language and two U.S. Court of Appeals 
rulings,'' and it also represents ``one of the most egregious end runs 
around Congress' power to write the laws.''
  I heard from Kentuckians who are simply concerned by this 
overreaching regulation and called for Congress to end it. In one 
recent letter to my office, the Kentucky Roofing Contractors 
Association called for the repeal of the Volks rule because it ``does 
nothing to improve workplace safety and could be used to impose costs 
on employers for inadvertent paperwork violations.''
  In fact, as they point out, it could even ``divert resources away 
from efforts to improve work place safety and create jobs.''
  In another letter I recently received, a Lexington construction 
contractor said he needs his safety supervisors ``constantly walking 
jobsites, identifying hazards and making sure our coworkers go home 
safely every night,'' but this regulation ``forces me to choose 
allocating sources to preventing future accidents or auditing old 
paperwork.
  That is our decision today: focusing on actual safety of employees or 
on more bureaucratic paper pushing.
  Senator Cassidy of Louisiana understands the challenges this 
regulation presents, and he has been a leader in working to protect 
American businesses from these consequences. I appreciate his efforts 
and look forward to the Senate passing it soon.

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