ASSE Opposes Administration’s Proposed FY ’12 Cuts to NIOSH Ag, Forestry & Fishing and ERCs
ASSE voiced opposition to the Obama Administration’s proposed FY 2012 budget cuts to two significant NIOSH activities - the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF) Program and Educational Research Centers (ERCs). The letter to Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Committees focused on the importance of these programs to ASSE members, the safety of workers and US competitiveness and the failure of the Administration to make a case for eliminating support for AFF and ERCs in its budget justification. Justification for cutting AFF support was based on a National Academies review of the program, which was misunderstood, according to the experts who conducted the review in their own letter to Chairman Harkin. Cutting ERC support was based on the conclusion that the “goals of the program have been met,” which ASSE refuted.