Political Quotes

“I come to the floor today to acknowledge my colleagues in the Senate for standing up for family farms. I am also here to issue a very straightforward warning to OSHA: The Senate makes crystal clear in the new appropriations bill that OSHA policies and inspectors better get in line with the law. Since 1976 Congress has included specific language in appropriations bills very specifically prohibiting OSHA from enforcement action on farms with 10 or fewer employees. However, this did not stop the agency from distorting the definitions of farming practices in sending inspectors to small family-owned farming operations anyway. In my home State of Nebraska, OSHA targeted a family farm that grows corn and soybeans and has just one nonfamily employee. It is clearly within the scope of the congressional exemption. As do most American farms, this farming operation includes grain bins for crop storage after harvest. But according to OSHA's absurd logic, grain storage, they say, is not part of farming operations, so it is not exempt from the regulations. I can't make this stuff up. While OSHA made no claim that anyone on the farm had been injured, the agency said the grain bins failed to comply with OSHA regulations, and--get this--they slapped the farm with fines totaling $132,000. This is not an issue that is confined to one farm in Nebraska.…”