Plan Would Cut OSHA Funding By $95 Million
By
Joe
Biden once said “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget — and I’ll
tell you what you value.”
Republicans new kick: bring back child labor
A
few days ago, Republicans told American workers what they value: More workplace
injury, illness and death, more child labor, and fewer unions.
House Appropriations Committee Republicans released the draft fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill yesterday, which will be considered in subcommittee today. The bill cuts OSHA funding by $95 million, a 15% cut that would bring the agency’s funding level down to $537 million.
OSHA’s budget hasn’t been at that low level since 2009 (aside from the
sequestration year of 2013 when OSHA’s budget was cut to $535 million). Even at
its current budget level, OSHA is a tiny agency with a paltry budget — and an
enormous mandate: the safety and health of 158 million workers at more
than 10.9 million workplaces.
The
Republican budget represents an unprecedented scorched-earth action that’s hard
to comprehend, even in these days of a MAGA-controlled House of
Representatives.
Republicans told American workers what they
value: More workplace injury, illness and death, more child labor, and fewer
unions.
Under OSHA’s current budget, most employers can depend on almost never seeing an OSHA inspector unless one of their workers is killed, hospitalized or unless a worker files a complaint.
The AFL-CIO estimates the it would take 190 years for
OSHA to inspect every workplace in the country just once. Republicans seem to
be striving to increase that number to 300 years.
To
put this in perspective, President Biden had proposed a 17% increase in
OSHA’s FY 2024 budget.
It’s unclear at this time where the specific cuts in the OSHA budget will come. All we know so far is that the budget line item for funding OSHA’s 27 state plans remains at the FY 2023 level of $120 million, so presumably most of the cuts would come out of enforcement and standards.
In addition, Republicans always
attempt to eliminate the Susan Harwood Worker Training Grant program when
they’re in control, so it’s highly likely they’ll try to kill the program this
year as well.
The
Mine Safety and Health Administration will face a 29% cut, replacing the
mythical “war on coal” with a very real “war on coal miners.”
The Mine Safety and Health Administration will
face a 29% cut, replacing the mythical “war on coal” with a very real “war on
coal miners.”
The
budget of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which
conducts workplace safety and health research, would be slashed by 32%. I guess
workers will just have to do their own research.
And
for good measure, the DOL Office of the Solicitor, which works on defending
enforcement actions and developing and defending DOL regulations, would be cut
by 25%. The budget of the already cash-starved National Labor Relations Board
would be cut by one-third.
So
we undermine OSHA’s ability to issue standard, hollow out their ability to
enforce current standards, and ensure that the agency doesn’t have the means to
defend any enforcement actions or standards in court.
More Child Labor
Meanwhile,
just a few weeks ago, Republicans on the House Education and Workforce (sic)
Committee spend quite some time in a hearing yelling
at Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su for not doing enough about the growing
scourge of child labor.
Several
Republicans suggested that the Department of Labor was not doing enough to
address a reported surge in companies employing children, particularly migrants, in dangerous
jobs, which Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana called “the biggest humanitarian crisis
in American history.”
Their
solution to not doing enough? Do less.
The Republican solution to not doing enough
about child labor? Do less.
The
Republican bill cuts the budget of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour
Division — the agency that enforces child labor protections — by $75 million,
almost 30%.
Undermining Women. And Democracy Abroad
But
just for good measure, the Republican’s war on workers doesn’t stop at ocean’s
edge. Republicans are also proposing to eliminate DOL’s Bureau of International
Labor Affairs (ILAB) which supports worker rights abroad. And Republicans are
extending their war on women to the workplace as they propose to eliminate the
Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau.
And
More…
But
the Labor-H appropriations bill is a gift that keeps on giving — especially for women and
children (or at least already-born children.) According to
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT),
“When
161 House Republicans voted earlier this year to eliminate all K-12 funding at
the Department of Education, I was horrified, but that was just the beginning.
Now, in the midst of a teacher shortage, they have introduced a bill that would
kick 220,000 teachers from classrooms. We are witnessing a widespread attack on
public education that should horrify all of us. Regardless of age or stage in
life, this bill means you cannot count on government for any help. It
limits women’s access to abortion while stripping maternal health services and
making diapers more expensive. It decimates access to preschool, education, and
job training. People can only hope they do not get cancer or need mental health
services—you will not find support from House Republicans. These awful cuts
will make it very hard for people and should not even be considered by this
committee.”
But
never fear, according to Republicans,
“The bill protects life, promotes American values, prioritizes medical
research, and combats the opioid epidemic.”
Protects
life? Not workers’ lives. Maybe the “lives” of zygotes and embryos, but not the
lives of mothers, fathers, sons or daughters who won’t return from work at
the end of the day.
And
since when is promoting workplace carnage and children dying in the workplace an
“American value?”
But
at least the Republican bill prohibits the use of funds to promote or advance
Critical Race Theory. Many workers’ lives will be saved as a result.
What’s Happening?
Wait,
you say. Didn’t you just write a few weeks ago that
the Debt Ceiling agreement between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin
McCarthy would result in a flat OSHA budget? That would have been very bad, but
not the catastrophic numbers we’re seeing in today’s bill.
That
was then. This is now. It seems the ultra-right wing House Freedom Caucus
didn’t appreciate McCarthy’s efforts. After shutting down the House for
a week last month, several House Freedom Caucus members sent a letter to
Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledging to vote against any appropriation bill funded
at debt ceiling levels and would agree only to FY2022 funding levels without
rescissions. And Kevin McCarthy’s top — and only — priority is to remain
Speaker of the House. By whatever means necessary.
For OSHA and other agencies, the numbers in
the bill don’t just take agency budget back a year, but back over a decade or
further.
Of
course, for OSHA and other agencies, the numbers in the bill don’t just take
agency budget back a year, but back over a decade or further. Overall, the
whole bill — which covers budgets for the Departments of Labor and Education,
as well as parts of other agencies — was the lowest for the
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill since
2008.
What’s Next?
Don’t
despair. Yet.
We’re
still a long way from the end. First, the full bill must pass that House. Given
the Republicans’ razor thin majority and the fact that some Republican
moderates may think the Freedom Caucus has gone to far, it’s not clear that the
current bill will receive enough Republican votes to pass on the House floor.
If
it does pass the House, the Senate will need to agree with the House on a
bill. There is no way the Democrat-controlled Senate will come close to
agreeing to this bill. And the Republican scorched earth budgets will be
limited to just the Labor and Education bill. In other words, a government
shut-down is looking more and more likely.
To
make matters worse, the Debt Ceiling agreement also stipulated that if
Congress can’t pass all 12 appropriation bills by next year, a 1% spending cut
across the board would be automatically applied.
Bottom
line. Remember next election day that elections have consequences. Often deadly
consequences.
This article originally appeared in Jordan
Barab’s newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues, Confined
Space, and is republished with permission.
Jordan Barab was
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009 to 2017, and spent 16
years running the safety and health program at the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees. He writes regularly at
https://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace/