Political Quotes

“I am glad my good friend mentioned business because from a business perspective this motion is narrow minded. A productive workforce is a healthy and skilled workforce. When workplace injuries cause workers to take time away, businesses have to train new workers and pay higher worker's compensation premiums. All of these costs will get higher and higher if this motion passes. That escalation will cut into productivity and render American business less competitive in the future. Beyond that, this motion will stop OSHA from protecting Americans against repetitive stress disorder, carpal tunnel syndrome and the physical injuries that workers sustain every day. Many of these millions are women. They are our mothers, our aunts, our sisters and our daughters. Each year 400,000 women workers suffer injuries from dangerously designed jobs. Sixty-nine percent of all workers who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome are women. This motion represents a betrayal of promises made to the women of America. In 1998, the House Committee on Appropriations majority report stated the committee will refrain from any further restrictions with regard to the development, promulgation or issuance of an ergonomics standard following fiscal year 1998. The chairman signed and sent a letter reiterating that promise. What we have here are broken promises, broken bodies, broken faith in government. This ought to be defeated.”