Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, like every Member of Congress, I am deeply concerned for the safety of offshore oil rig workers. No worker who sees a hazard to health and safety in violation of the law should fear reporting the violation to the proper authorities. Effective workplace safety starts with compliance, and is enhanced by alert workers who help ensure appropriate safety rules are being followed. That is why I am asking all my colleagues to support this motion to recommit. This proposal extends the whistleblower protections in the Occupational Safety and Health Act to workers on offshore oil rigs. As I noted earlier, there are a number of concerns with the Democrats' proposal. It creates an entirely new whistleblower protection framework for workers directly or indirectly involved with offshore oil drilling, departing from the long-standing protections in existing health and safety laws. The majority also fails to focus on oil rig workers, extending their untested form of whistleblower protections to various workers on land who are already protected by existing, and possibly conflicting, statutes. {time} 1630 Legal confusion and uncertainty are never good when it comes to workplace safety. Last month, the Education and Labor Committee heard from Federal officials who could not answer whether offshore oil rig workers have access to basic whistleblower protections. To date, the committee has not received a response to a request for clarification.…”