Timothy Roemer: “this issue is not new to any of us who have served in this body. The Secretary of Labor for President George Herbert…”

“this issue is not new to any of us who have served in this body. The Secretary of Labor for President George Herbert Walker Bush, a lady I have a great deal of respect for, said we must do our utmost to protect workers from these hazards of repetitive stress injuries. We all know this is a problem. We are in our town meetings and our constituents come up to us with the braces on their arms. We have our case workers in our offices dealing with these issues day in and day out. Our workers are suffering. And more importantly, our businesses know that they have some answers, they are out there working on this. Mr. Speaker, 3M, a big American company, has had a 58 percent decrease in lost time cases, 58 percent decrease. SunMicrosystems, a high tech company with repetitive injury claims, their claims went from $45,000 to $3,500. My colleagues might say businesses are doing it, but do not tell us to do more of it. President Bush is going to tell us to do a lot more testing, because it works in Texas. We are going to hear that. Do not give us that argument on our businesses. Finally, I have to say that we have been in this great Chamber since December 16, 1857, and had great debates, but today is one of the darkest days literally when the majority said they would rather have a dark Chamber than a Chamber filled with discussion and debate and differences. I hope we do much better in the future.”