HomeSourcesHow Do I?OverviewHelpLogo
[Return To Search][Focus]
Search Terms: repetitive stress , OSHA

[Document List][Expanded List][KWIC][FULL]

[Previous Document] Document 1 of 1. [Next Document]

Copyright 2000 The National Journal, Inc.  
The National Journal

 View Related Topics 

June 17, 2000

SECTION: CONGRESS; Pg. 1913; Vol. 32, No. 25

LENGTH: 612 words

HEADLINE: A Repetitive Problem in the House

BYLINE: David Baumann

BODY:


The issue of ergonomics has confronted the House so many times
that it is causing members repetitive stress. It might also be
affecting their memories.

     For years, Republicans and their business allies have
questioned whether there is sufficient scientific evidence to
support the enactment of federal requirements for how employers
must deal with employees suffering from repetitive-stress
injuries. After the Republicans took over Congress in 1995, Rep.
Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, offered an annual appropriations
amendment that barred the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
from working on these ergonomics standards.

     Bonilla's amendment usually sparked contentious debate in
Congress and with the Clinton Administration. But in 1995 and
1996, OSHA's ergonomics rules were blocked. Then, as another
showdown over the issue loomed in 1997, Bonilla and fellow House
Republican appropriators brokered a compromise: They would
prohibit OSHA from proceeding with its rule for only one more
year, during which they encouraged the agency to further study
the issue.

     In a report accompanying the fiscal 1998 appropriations
bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
departments, the House Appropriations Committee said this of the
deal: "The committee will refrain from any further restrictions
with regard to the development, promulgation, or issuance of an
ergonomic standard following fiscal year 1998."

     House Republicans have stuck to that commitment-until
now. The Labor-HHS appropriations bill passed by the House on
June 14 prohibits OSHA from issuing any final ergonomics
standards. Rep. Anne Northup, R-Ky., offered the provision in the
Appropriations Committee last month, and many members who also
sat on the panel in 1997 voted for it. Many appropriators also
supported Northup's provision when it was challenged on the House
floor on June 8.

     The issue is an important one for the National Federation
of Independent Business, which recently issued a news release
with the headline "Small Business Will Remember Any Votes to Deny
Protection from Costly Ergonomics Mandate." But House Republican
appropriators did not mention the NFIB's election-year threat
when asked about their recent votes.

     Northup apparently does not think much of the 1997 deal
made by then-Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., and
ranking member David R. Obey, D-Wis. "It is absolutely
unconstitutional for one Congress to bind the hands of another
Congress," declared Northup, who also criticized OSHA for
drafting a rule "that was as sweeping as it could be."

     Appropriations Chairman C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla., was
unaware of the 1997 agreement until after the committee vote in
May, a spokeswoman said. "Had he known about the agreement, he
probably would have followed through on the earlier commitment,"
she said. "Since he was not a party to it, he thought he did what
was right." Bonilla, for his part, said he simply had agreed in
1997 not to bring up the ergonomics issue again but that should
not have stopped any other lawmaker from doing so.

     The Senate may not go along with the House's attempt to
block OSHA's ergonomics standards, which the agency would like to
issue by year's end, and the White House will surely object. In
any event, Democrats such as Obey point to the House Republicans'
recent move as cause for concern. "If you can't count on a
member's word in the future," said Obey, "then the lubricant that
leads to compromise wears out."

LOAD-DATE: June 19, 2000




[Previous Document] Document 1 of 1. [Next Document]


FOCUS

Search Terms: repetitive stress , OSHA
To narrow your search, please enter a word or phrase:
   
About Terms and Conditions Top of Page
Copyright© 2001, LEXIS-NEXIS®, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.