James Traficant: “section 103 reads, ``None of the funds made available in this act may be used by the Occupational Safety and Health…”

“section 103 reads, ``None of the funds made available in this act may be used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promulgate, issue, implement, administer, or enforce any proposed temporary or final standard on ergonomic protection.'' The Traficant-Weldon amendment would simply strike the provision, and it would prevent OSHA from going forward with its proposed rule, requiring employers to come up with basic programs to prevent repetitive motion injuries. Last August the House passed H.R. 987, the Workplace Preservation Act, to have OSHA wait until another study is complete to implement the standards. For the record, I voted against the bill. Now, this bill overrides the wait provision and tells OSHA that it cannot set those standards. We have many American workers, and I know what the complaints are, that some of these workers are taking advantage in the workplace of some of these musculoskeletal problems where, through repetitive work in industry, they develop these musculoskeletal problems and muscular problems that prevent them from working. By striking the language, very simply, we would affect, in my opinion, 650,000 workers in the positive. We have an opportunity to pass a very straightforward amendment.…”