Virginia Foxx: “This amendment is simply more window dressing on a flawed bill. While technical assistance is welcome and appropriate…”

“This amendment is simply more window dressing on a flawed bill. While technical assistance is welcome and appropriate, this amendment places an arbitrary time limit that is woefully insufficient to cope with the flawed rule, and there is no telling how short an unfriendly administration might allow this needed advice period to last. Moreover, technical assistance after employers are subject to a rule in which they had no input is too little too late. Rather than amend a flawed bill by allowing the Department of Labor to help businesses after they are subject to a flawed rule, we should reject this bill and instead allow OSHA to pursue its established rulemaking process that provides ample opportunity for feedback from stakeholders and the public before they are subject to another Washington regulation. Democrat amendments to the bill, such as the one we are debating, do not change the basic fact that H.R. 1309 is overly prescriptive and circumvents the established rulemaking process, failing to allow for the development of a workable, effective, and feasible workplace violence prevention standard. This amendment should be defeated. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”