Eliot Engel: “I want to speak about the proposed cuts in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill because in the 7 years I have…”

“I want to speak about the proposed cuts in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill because in the 7 years I have been fortunate enough to serve in Congress, this bill is truly the worst bill I have ever seen. This bill is nothing less than a frontal assault on the working men and women of this country. The cuts will only serve to decrease productivity, increase costs and cost lives. I am a member of what used to be called the Education and Labor Committee, which is now called the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee. And the minute the new Republican majority took control, they changed the name of the Committee. They purged the word labor out of the Committee and purged the word labor out of all the subcommittees. That, to me, sums it all up. They want to just purge labor, purge labor unions and purge the working men and women of this country. The cuts in OSHA in this bill, and OSHA takes care of the health and safety of American workers, they slash OSHA enforcement programs by 33 percent, a third. This would decimate the agency's enforcement program, leaving millions of working Americans with no where to turn for safety and health protections. With 17 workers dying on the job each day, these shortsighted cuts will increase this carnage sharply.”