On the recordOctober 5, 2011
I certainly want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee for offering this amendment and particularly pointing out that it relates to animals as well as people, and I would say that from our analysis, certainly EPA considers work-related illnesses and absences when they issue these regulations, and the specific section of the bill, H.R. 2681, which the gentleman from Tennessee is amending relates to the provisions that the administrator must consider relating to the industry in trying to comply with the regulation. This amendment would add to that illness-related work absences would have to be considered as well, and we think that that would really be duplicative of what they already considered. And because of that, despite the great respect we have for the gentleman from Tennessee, I would urge that this amendment not be adopted and urge other Members to vote ``no'' on the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.
