Todd Tiahrt: “in this legislation, the Military Quality of Life and VA appropriations, much of the work, especially for construction…”

“in this legislation, the Military Quality of Life and VA appropriations, much of the work, especially for construction and maintenance, are governed by rules and regulations. A good example of the problem this can create occurred in Wichita, Kansas, not too long ago when OSHA targeted the Wichita area building and construction industry. Through the threat of citations and fines, they literally shut down all of the work going on in the area of home building. What I did was go back to the Wichita area and I met with OSHA and the area home builders, and I found out they both had the same goal. That goal was to see that the workplace was safe. So by bringing them together, they worked out an agreement that they would work together, instead of assessing fines and citations, and create a better work environment, a safe work environment, and they were successful. Only recently have I found that the OSHA department here in Washington wants to renege on that agreement and can no longer sustain the concept of working together to have a safe workplace. Instead, they are going to continue on an adversarial relationship. That brings me to the point that I want to stress with this amendment, and that is if we would work together, the Federal Government and the private sector, we could be much more successful in achieving the goals that both want. Mr. Chairman, less regulation and working together means granting the freedom to allow Americans to pursue their dreams.…”