Political Quotes

“I was surprised when several of my constituents contacted me about a little-known law passed eight years ago which has not yet been implemented. The original intent of this law, the Fastener Quality Act of 1990, was to regulate and test certain critical nuts, bolts, and similar fasteners. Yet, eight years later, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which is the agency responsible for implementing this law, has not done so. In the years that this law languished, the fastener industry and other regulatory federal agencies have taken steps to meet and surpass the original safety goals of the 1990 law. Unfortunately, this late attempt to impose these new requirements unnecessarily duplicates superior quality efforts already underway in the industry and the regulatory community. Originally, the law was supposed to cover a specific number of critical fasteners used in such things as public buildings, bridges, and airliners. NIST since has expanded the scope of the original law to cover nearly half of all nuts, bolts, and other fasteners made or used in this country.”