Tales from DC: March 17 House Appropriations Hearing
From Gary Visscher of The Law Office of Adele Abrams, ASSE’s Federal Representative:
On behalf of ASSE, on March 17, 2011 I attended the hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies , where Secretary of Labor Solis testified on the Administration’s proposed 2012 budget for the Department’s programs.
The hearing was quite well attended by Members, though it was clear that Members have quite different perspectives on funding DOL programs and bringing down the deficit.
Much of the Secretary’s testimony, and much of the hearing, focused on job training programs within the Department of Labor. With regard to OSHA, Secretary Solis testified that the Administration’s budget requested $25 million over the 2010 level. Although the proposed budget includes increases in federal enforcement and training grants as well, the Secretary specifically mentioned only the proposed increases in standards – a $6 million increase which includes $4 million for standards setting and an additional $2.4 million to develop the Injury and Illness Prevention Program rule – and an increase of $6 million and 45 FTE for OSHA’s whistleblower responsibilities under 21 laws.
The Administration’s proposed budget would increase MSHA’s budget by $27 million and 66 FTE over the 2010 enacted level (which does not include $7.259 million and 15 FTE provided to MSHA in the Supplemental Appropriation Act to address the backlog of cases). In her testimony the Secretary said that the increase was necessary to continue to make progress in reducing the backlog of contested citations. Although not addressed in oral testimony, the Secretary’s written testimony also addresses a separate significant increase ($9.9 million and 54 FTE from 2010) for the Solicitor’s Office, to address the MSHA enforcement backlog. The Office of the Solicitor would also get additional funds for whistleblower cases, rulemaking, and other purposes.
While most of the Members’ questions dealt with various job training programs, a few concerned OSHA and MSHA. Particularly, some of the Democratic Members of the Subcommittee talked about the effect that the FY2011 spending bill passed by the House (H.R. 1) would have had on OSHA. Secretary of Solis said that the 25% reduction in 2011 funding would have resulted in about 19,000 fewer inspections (federal and state) and would hurt businesses because OSHA would not have been able to maintain the OSHA webpage and the compliance assistance provided there. (According to the Secretary, OSHA’s is the second most visited federal government agency web page.)
Secretary Solis said that the additional funds provided to MSHA and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission in the Supplemental Appropriation last year, to address the backlog of cases and citations, expire at the end of July, 2011. (It is not altogether clear what happens if increased level of funding is not continued past July.)
Asked about the size of the increase proposed for OSHA, Secretary Solis said that OSHA’s budget had not been increased for several years so the Administration is playing catch up. She also said that the Department is doing a better job of using the funds “strategically,” better targeting enforcement and maintaining support VPP and on-site consultation programs. She emphasized that more OSHA (and other DOL) enforcement is important for American businesses, to assure that businesses that are complying with the law are not disadvantaged in competing with those who are not.