attention it do the members will remove their conversations the back of the chamber please clear let's recognize the alarm bells began ringing on this health crisis over seven years ago when a missouri doctor diagnosed several workers from the same popcorn production plant with this debilitating lung disease in two thousand and two the national institute for occupational safety and health linked their lung disease to the exposure to die acid tale used in the plant scientists have called the effect of dye acid teleworkers longs astonishingly grotesque and like it to inhaling acid hundreds of workers in popcorn and flavor production have become ill several have died of popcorn lung and many of the affected workers are so sick that they needed lung transplants dozen of workers to sued flavoring manufacturers when a million and lawsuits and settlements nyasha first connected popcorn lung to this chemical in two thousand and two and in two thousand and three nyasha issued a guidance recommendation that workers exposure be minimized in two thousand and four the food extract manufacturers association the trade association of the flavoring industry issued similar guidelines yet five years later the occupational safe and healthy m s ministration has failed to issue a standard to protect workers from exposure to die at the till and perforate to rely on voluntary efforts voluntary efforts however have not worked last year california researchers found that despite the issuance of government and industry guidance for years before many of those recommendations still have not been implemented in the flavor manufacturing facilities and new cases that this debilitating lung disease has been identified how does this bill address address the problem h r twenty six ninety three would require osha to issue an interim fine the standard to minimize worker exposure to di acid till the standard would contain provisions of engineering controls respiratory production protection exposure monitoring and medical surveillance and worker training the entrance standard applies to popcorn manufacturing and packaging as well as the food flavoring industry osha then would be required to issue a final standard within two years this final standard would apply to all locations where workers are till and would include permissible exposure limit this bill would should not be controversial it is not another battle between workers and business about safety issues and alleged burdens of regulations over the past several months we've built  coalition around this legislation from all sides including industry labor and scientists the flavor and extract mannish manufacturers association the association representing the companies that make these flavoring has joined the unions that represent the affected workers strongly logs in search of a talking point but the real world the the ideology leaves workers and their families to suffer from a preventive it's from the preventable discourages of toxic chemicals there are many reasons why industry labor and scientists agree on this legislation they all agree that we don't need to wait any longer to act indeed we can't afford to wait i have i have a list of almost thirty major studies and reports showing the diaster tail destroys workers long as they agree that we know how to protect workers the national institute of occupational health and safety issue guidelines in two thousand and three laying out the basic measures that industry can take to prevent worker exposure to die as a toll in two thousand and four the flavor manufacturing association outline even greater detail the measures that members can take to prevent the employees from getting sick legislation is straightforward and merely requires that osha do what it could have done and should have already done issue an emergency standard there is precedent for this bill the congress has stepped in when osha falters in one thousand nine hundred six one thousand nine hundred ninety one ninety two in two thousand congress moved to require osha to issue health and safety standards earlier this month in response to a report that the consumer of a microwave popcorn have contracted popcorn lung a few popcorn manufacturers have announced that they intend to stop using di ass until this is welcome news it highlights just how serious this issue is but it is not enough workers are still at risk we will continue to be used in a variety of other food products we can't wait for consumers to get sick and hit the companies in the pocketbook before the industry changes workers are getting sick now and have for many years and will continue to get sick unless we act workers cannot wait any longer for our help in the past several years we've seen hundreds of workers become sick from die from exposure to die ass until well and we've heard about young workers who need lung transplants who are not expected to live to see their small children grow up the time for us is to act osha has failed over five years they've been on notice of this they have bailed to do this the only time they have shown any movement is when we've called the hearing or had some congressional action they've responded to it the time has come for the congress to act and to pass this legislation and stop ignoring the needs of these workers health and safety and it's time to get osha to do the job that they were constituted to do and that's to protect these workers and their families from this preventable from this preventable exposure to die assets all the toxic substance that has become among other things the question of whether and how the flavoring compound i asked little should be regulated by osha we heard from an individual suffering from lung impairment that could well have been developed as a result of his manufacturing popcorn during which he was exposed to high concentrations of dye acid all and numerous other chemicals there are many questions about this particular chemical in fact a number of large popcorn manufacturers recently announced voluntary steps to curb the use of dioxin all while its affects on worker help are studied the bill before us calls for a much more drastic response to the concerns about this chemical it would require o a to set an interim final standard relating to die asil exposure within ninety days of passage to be followed by a final rule within two years this directive is without a doubt a well intended effort to prevent illness that may be caused by this particular substance unfortunately despite its good intentions this bill has the potential to cause great harm i recognize that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle wish to do something to respond to the questions about this chemical i also understand their frustration about a lack of action by the administration candidly i share some of that prostration it is my understanding that just this week the administration announced plans to implement rulemaking for diastole exposure this despite the fact that congress has been looking into these concerns for months and until this week cannot receive clear unambiguous direction from the administration other than a letter written by the ocean administrator expressing serious concerns about the implications of the bill from the outset of this process i've been concerned about the lack of scientific data available to guide our actions without the necessary scientific understanding of this chemical we cannot possibly develop the appropriate guidelines to protect workers at this point we still do not even know whether diasters all alone or in conjunction with other chemicals is responsible for the condition known as popcorn lung because of my concerns about a lack of scientific data and because i'm uneasy about short circuiting the proven regulatory process i raised concerns about this bill when it was considered in committee it's my position that the administration should be allowed adequate time to complete necessary scientific investigation before developing new standards i was at the outset and i concerned that such a rush to response to questions about this substance make for better politics than policy that is why i was so surprised and frankly disappointed to learn that only now has the administration suddenly chosen to take action they announced on monday their intent to initiate rulemaking issue a safety and health information bulletin and provide hazard communication guidance the administr actions in this case and their lack of communication with congress have done nothing to shed light on this issue of concern to us all instead it has resulted in confusion about what is being done to address this issue and when they and we can expect to have answers in fact of the administration had simply been forthright with congress about its plans we might not be here considering this questionable legislation at all during committe offered an alternative our plan which we will offer as an amendment today strikes a balance between acting quickly to protect workers while rely upon sound science to establish a comprehensive regulation the republican plan would maintain the ninety day deadline for establishing an interim final rule under this rule guidance would be provided so that manufacturers could take immediate spam idiot steps to limit exposure through the use of engineering improvements ventilation and other strategies to protect workers our plan would also maintain the requirement that a final rule be developed including a permissible exposure limit under our alternative this would be required within two years after the national institute for occupational safety and health concludes that the standard can be supported by solid scientific evidence in short the amendment maintains the same timeframe for immediate protection while eliminating the arbitrary nature of the final rule in favor of a timeline based on the a bell ability of scientific evidence i want to reiterate my deep concern for the workers who have become ill it is my goal and surely the goal of everyone here to determine as soon as possible what caused their illness and what can be done to prevent future occurrences mr speaker i opposed this bill in committee because i felt it did not allow for adequate scientific study i also believed it undermined the long standing regulatory process however i strongly support the effort to protect workers and i can understand why members on both sides of the aisle would wish to vote in favor of this measure as for me until we can clear up the confusion surrounding this bill i will reluctantly oppose it i continue to believe this legislation undermine sound scientific and regulatory processes but i will keep an open mind as this bill progresses through the legislative process if further scientific evidence is uncovered as this bill moves to the senate and the president my position could change i only wish the south carolina the ranking member on the subcommittee and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time mr wilson the gentleman from south carolina will be recognized based on unanimous consent of you fine john from california the speaker i yield myself one minute i i certainly appreciate the situation my ranking member mr mckeon from california finds himself in and i appreciate his remarks about the actions of osha in this situation the you know the fact is that again earlier this month in a commentary of the dutch study and i asked to workers which found that it is unlikely that any other chemicals are responsible for these cases nyasha scientists catherine dr catherine cress wrote that the collective quote the collective athens for diaster till causing respiratory hazard supports actions to minimize exposure and  contributions by other flavoring chemicals exist and that's the situation we find ourselves and this isn't a desire to rush to legislation the fact is as mr mckeon point out on this side of the aisle also we're all terribly disappointed by the  i'm truly sorry that mr mckeon can't support it but i'm proud to be the sponsor of a chart twenty six ninety three the popcorn lung disease protection act which requires osha to issue an emergency temporary standard to regulate workers exposure to dye acid heal a chemical used in butterfly ring for microwave popcorn and other food products it is a travesty that osha has done nothing to regulate this chemical while workers have fallen seriously ill and have actually died in one thousand nine hundred seven congress passed osha to provide every working man and woman in the nation a safe and healthy all work place and we gave the new agency charged with the administration the full name of the occupational safety and health act and we also gave them important tools to enforce the provisions of the law one of the most important functions or she is charged with is to develop health and forty thousand cases of brown lung disease annually affecting twelve percent of all textile workers by two thousand the and because of osha brown lung was virtually eliminated and oceans  eight standard on lead dramatically reduced lead poisoning but sadly mr chairman there are still millions of workers who suffer from injuries and illnesses while working one of the most grevious examples of this are workers w contracting popcorn lung disease from exposure to a chemical called i asked appeal used in the manufacture of microwave popcorn and other foods the workforce protection subcommittee held a hearing on o standards in april and we heard from eric people a former michael ray microwave popcorn worker who has popcorn lung erika's this is in his thirty's and he has a young family he worked in a microwave popcorn facility in missouri or less than two years before and after that he had to stop work because he had contracted popcorn lung disease popcorn lung an irreversible and life threatening respiratory disease erika's lost eighty percent of his lung capacity is awaiting a double lung transplant and faces an early death all because he was exposed to di ass appeal as standard regulating exposure of diasur tail is currently needed while osha has known about the dangers of the chemical for years it has failed it has failed day after day year after year to and now there's been at least one or two other reported cases of pop corn long in consumers wayne what wayne watson a fifty three year old man from colorado has been diagnosed with popcorn lung due to his daily consumption of microwave popcorn over a ten year period in addition the seattle post intelligencer reported that a six year old child the son of a popcorn plant toy who has pot hands popcorn lung was showing signs of the disease himself in that case when the popcorn plant closed the company told the employee they could help themselves to any of the company's products the father took home some butter flavored oil containing dye acetate well and use that for frying food may have you with one additional one minute thank you chile's recognize for additional minute as a result the six year old child was exposed to the chemical and it made him sick these are unintended and unfortunate consequences when osha refuses to act to protect workers this is to even though the flavor an extract manufacturers association that represents the food flavoring manufacturers issued a report warning of the dangers some exposure of of diaspora t l and recommended control and measures controlling that chemical osha does not seem moved to meaningful action even though four of the nation's biggest popcorn makers have recently announced that they are working to remove diaster title from their products in my own state of california cal osha current is currently working on a standard to l there's a whole list of agencies that i will enter into the record that are supporting the regulation of diaspora keil so mr chairman now's the time you myself so much time as i may consume mr speaker when i looked at the issue of diasur till in manufacturing join the debate in committee the answer seemed very clear to me at the time proper ventilation even though it is unclear what is affecting manufacturing workers all the experts agree that engineering controls such as ventilation reduces worker exposure i take very seriously long illnesses but nearly ten years i served on the state  south carolina lung association in the south carolina state senate i introduced innovative legislation promoting clean air fundamentally the science does not exist to state a link between diaster till and then period lung function in the last year the national institute for occupational safety and health nyasha noted quote at this time insufficient data exist on which to base workplace exposure standards or recommended exposure limits for butter flavorings end of quote unfortunately this bill goes beyond the issue of what is known the underlying bill requires the occupational safety and health administration osha to set a standard based on documents that osha informs us cannot guide rulemaking these documents provide guidelines of how to solve the problem at issue but are not the foundation for rule more research is currently underway to determine a connection between diaster till and this respiratory condition and i fully support that research moving forward in fact the underlying measure contains  amendment i offered doing the committee consideration of the bill to require nyasha to study summer of playthings flavorings to determine possible exposure hazards with flavorings similar to diaster tell until there  conclusive evidence it remains to be seen if diaster till alone is to blame or whether the chemical in combination with the other flavorings places workers at risk on june eighteenth assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health edward edwin folk a distinguished attorney from greenville south carolina of the highest integrity reiterated this in a letter to congress in which he stated quote focusing on diantha till ignores the possibility that other flavoring can poena many of which there are tents in airway reactive substances or playing a role and in the development of disease given the wide variety boise's end of quote i asked to submit this letter for the record this is a critical point in till we know the true cause of this long impairment i don't see how we can effectively legislate on it further major manufacturers using this flavoring have already announced they will no longer be using diaster till the lack of scientific foundation is unfortunately not the only problem with the that objection chairman thank you i thank the chairman for yielding i rise in support of this legislation in two thousand and two five years ago nyasha the national institut occupational safety and health discovered a link between a dreadful disease called popcorn lung that literally eats away at the tissue of a man or woman's long and i asked you a lot of happened in the five years since then hundreds of people have been severely second a significant a significant number of people have died in two thousand and three nyasha recommended that title adopt certain standards to protect workers against popcorn lung disease in two thousand and four the food and extract manufacturers association the trade association of the affected industry voluntarily adopted certain recommendations that employers and manufacturers do what they could to protect workers against popcorn lung very recently under the leadership of subcommittee chairwoman woolsey who called attention to this issue drafted a piece of legislation some good things happen the flavor an extract manufacturers association said we agree with the legislation we want osha to act to protect these workers as a matter of law not a matter of courtesy the flavor and extract manufacturers association we're joined by the industrial hi janice the experts in this matter by the physicians the american college of environmental and occupational medicine by the public health experts the american public health association by the voice of organized labor the a f l c e o the united food and commercial workers union the teamsters the bakery confectionery tobacco workers and grain millers union and the american society of safety engineers so the manufacturers agree osha ought to act the physicians agree osha ought to act the industrial high genesis agree that osha ought to act labor unions agree that osha ought to act and the american association of safety and juniors agrees that osha ought to act all these things have happened in the last five years but one thing has not happen has not acted so today we will this is a case of administrative malpractise this is a case of an administrative agency that has given the responsibility under the law to protect working americans after five years of evidence after the unanimous judgment of doctors hi janice the trade association organized labor after five years of unanimous judgment that it's time for osha to act osha still has not acted now the normal course mr chairman is to wait for the administrative agency to make up its mind we've already followed that course we've waited for five years as hundreds of people have been sickened and it's a significant number of people passed on the time to wait is over the time to act is now so i would urge our republican a democratic colleagues to join with doctors industrial hi janice the manufacturers association organized labor the public health association and say to osha stop this administrative is interested actively in the input of members of congress and the actions of government but they have some suspicion about the actions of government when i came to congress i was give told a story by a former member who told an amusing story about his sense that when members of congress get on the airplane and they head toward washington to come to work  they think they're there they're pretty pretty smart folks as they get closer to washington they think that their intelligence increases as they begin to descend and come into reagan national  airport they really think they're getting mighty mighty smart and then once they step off the plane they think they are the brightest people on the face of the earth and i tell that because folks listening to this might be surprised that there actually is a process in place for rule making wind up with the notion there is a process in place that maximizes workplace safety while it sets standards on the strongest based upon the strongest in the most complete scientific information now today the house of representatives is considering a bill which bypasses this process bypasses the process and sets a permissible exposure limit for diaster teel making members of congress the ones who are the experts on scientific evidence as my friend mentioned before i came to congress i was a physician and one of the things that concerned me greatly was that members of congress many members of congress  thought that think they know best about so many issues one of them was how to practice medicine in this instance it's what the level of appropriate exposure for a worker in this nation on be for  is an artificial flavoring as you've heard for that's commonly used for popcorn it has been determined to be safe for general consumption but the inhalation the breathing in of large quantities may be harmful although there is not any evidence that demonstrates that it can be solely harmful to an individual which is what this bill actually assumes or presumes you've heard talk about the national institute of occupational safety and health nyasha n is the group that studies these kinds of things in fact they produced a study that concluded quote there is insufficient data that exists on which to base workplace exposure standards or recommended exposure limits for butter flavorings unquote those are the folks that are the scientists that are involved in setting standards we ought to listen to their there are recommendations there they are and i commend the author i commend the individuals who want to push the process forward more rapidly i think that's an appropriate thing to do but by adopting this bill congress is effectively saying to osha that your rule making process doesn't make any difference that we don't need to hear from the folks with the greatest amount of knowledge about an issue  congress is is about to set standards based upon incomplete scientific evidence now that may not be of great concern to some but it ought to be it ought to be regulations of this nature should only be based on the most sound and thorough scientific data otherwise congress is coming back every six months every year every two years and revising what they put in place because they haven't based their information their decision making on appropriate scientific information if this legislation is  forward then i would encourage my colleagues to allow it to do so with the adoption of the wilson amendment this amendment would ensure that a final safety standard for diocese t l is in fact based on adequate scientific and complete review by the wilson amendment will guarantee that the most effective worker protections are put in place with the backing of science rather than identifying one compound without complete information if the goal here is workplace safety if the goal is workplace safety then we ought to make certain that that safety those guidelines those regulations are put in place and done correctly members of congress should have a critical eye on the osha rule making process without a doubt but it's important that we not implement mandates based upon incomplete scientific evidence and without all of the facts so for those reasons mr spit mr chairman i once again thank my colleagues for his assistance in his leadership in this area i would urge adoption of the issue as a co sponsor of h r twenty six ninety three i write to express my very strong support of the legislation and to highlight the dangers philosophy under which the current administration and consequently osha has been operating beside me you see in print the philosophy of guidance over standards and regulations just to be clear here guidance is great but it's terribly dangerous when it comes at the expense of enforceable standards is this issue there brings us to the floor today this hazard communications guidelines which was released just on monday start of the sort of to scream a paragraph that begins by explaining this guidance is not a standard or regulation and it creates no new legal obligations and it concludes with failure to implement any specific recommendations in this guidance is not in itself a violation of the general duty cla citations can only be based on standards regulations and general duty clause in fact under this administration osha has issued only one significant new standard which was on the cancer causing chemical hexavalent chromium and this was done under court order this is an incredibly dangerous philosophy for workers nationwide who rely on the health and safety precautions that osha is charged with ensuring osha's obligation to protect these work is is certainly not met by simply enforcing current standards log nor in emerging dangers osha has a responsibility to promulgated new standards and protections as soon as we learn of the hazardous nature of such chemicals and to my colleagues who would say that congress should step back and let osha do its job i say gladly we will step back when osha steps up and fills its obligation to provide meaningful health and safety protection for our nation's workers i urge my colleagues to support this legislation that will provide this meaningful protection it does is by requiring osha to issue an interim standard and within two years to promulgated final standards with respect to mr peoples has the debil a debilitating disease a popcorn long and as a result he has only twenty four percent of his lung capacity every day activities are no longer possible for him another worker at the jasper jasper popcorn plant linda redmond started working at the plant in one thousand nine hundred five within two years her breathing was so impaired that she had to quit i believe that eric and linda's pain may have been prevented if osha had acted to issue a standard to limit workers exposure to  failed to issue a standard even though it was some seven years ago that it was determined that worker illnesses were related to the chemical diastole h r twenty six ninety three is a simple bill it requires osha to issue an emergency interim standard within ninety days to protect workers of popcorn and flavorings manufacturing plants to minimize diaster tell and it requires osha to then issue a final standard within two years an emergency standard will help protect the thousands of workers who come into contact with every day the flavor and extract manufacturers association the leading industry association for the flavoring industry recommended similar actions as far back as two thousand and four the simple and sad truth is that osha has failed to do its job and thus in this case congress must act to protect workers these workers deserve a safe workplace as eric people said and i quote i played by the rules i work to support my family this unregulated industry virtually destroyed my life please don't let it destroy the lives of others so i ask members to join me in promising that we won't stand by and let this industry destroy the lives of others let's pass h r twenty six ninety three factors chairman you'll back to balance my time myself the balance of my time you'll can suffer it's time to make consume comes back and i we're considering this bill under unfortunate circumstances a number of workers have become ill and it's not entirely clear why we suspect this particular food flavoring diaster till may be involved and so we all support a thorough investigation into the substance and how exposure to it may impact workers like my friends on the other side of the aisle i wish there was an easy answer if only we knew what had made these workers ill we could immediately eliminate the risk if only we knew for sure that diaster tyll in manufacturing alone cause lung obstruction then federal agencies could go through the appropriate regulatory process to establish exposure limitations and take the necessary steps to protect workers unfortunately we do not have enough information at this point in time to take such action research is underway and it's my hope that the research continues quickly so that we can get to the bottom of these questions about how diacetyl impacts manufacturing workers until that research is available until we have a scientific basis for regulation in my mind we simply cannot move forward there is a very real danger that by acting too quickly we could manufacturers to begin using substitute flavorings there is a possibility that the substitute flavorings could also put workers at risk thus a hurried regulation may provide a false sense of security w manufacturing workers remain vulnerable again i understand the frustration about a lack of clarity on the administration's intent in this area in till the recent announcement by the department of labor that it intends to undertake  rulemaking process for this wavering we had not received any clear indication from ministration that it intended to take action as such i believe and some of the some on the other side of the aisle believe they had no choice but to act themselves mr speaker i recognize the difficulty we face we have workers who have fallen ill and we do not know why we have questions about a flavoring that workers are exposed to during manufacturing but we do not know whether it is the saw sole cause of their ailments whether federal regulatory agency that is responsible for ensuring workplace safety but until this week we did not know whether the agency would act republicans proposed a central sensible alternative when this bill was concerned was considered in the committee and we plan to do so again today we want to balance our pressing desire to act quickly to protect workers with their equally important need to adhere to sound science because i believe it undermines the basic regulatory framework and it lacks the necessary scientific foundation and i regret i cannot support the bill and its current form i hope that mild turret of the wilson amendment will be adopted so we can quickly increase protection for workers while relying on scientifically based evidence to guide the final rules to mr speaker members of the house this isn't about confusion this isn't about uncertainty this is about the absolute failure of a federal agency that is  designed and continue to protect the health and the safety of american workers the occupy health and safety administration and the absolute failure of that agency to take action the absolute failure of this administration the bush administration to insist they take action in light of mounting and compelling evidence that workers in popcorn manufacturing facilities and workers maybe now and other food industries have been stricken with a horrible disease that has been directly related to die assa till i appreciate they want to throw up all of the other reasons maybe it wasn't o j but the fact of the matter is here it is diaspora till and we've got to understand that because people are going in for lung transplants people are losing their ability to earn a living and people in fact have died from the results of this and manufacturers and others are paying out millions of dollars now the other side wants to offer an amendment this based upon very old information three years old when those three years nyasha has recommended that actions be taken the actions were not taken based that on the information at that time then the industry recommended that actions be taken to protect the lives and the health and the safety of these workers and actions were not taken in many parts of that industry and lo and behold on the day that we're arguing this bill on the floor we find out that osha has finally taken action and what action is ocean taken it didn't take action in the absence of information it yesterday they couldn't figure out last year or the year before the year before but the congress is because congress is moving they're now going to give people a datasheet that says that i asked the till and the datasheet from osha today can cause damage to respiratory track and lungs if inhaled and it's highly flammable this isn't because we don't have information this is because they refused to act before the congress now the gentleman from the other side wants to talk about the fact that they've they've put together a rule making process know what they announced with a one day meeting one day meeting of stakeholders and then that was the end of it we don't know whether they're going to go to the rest of the process or not there's no indication in their past that they have they have forfeited their right to suggest that they will set the time and the temple and the urgency of the protection of these workers and their families they have forfeited that we're stepping in here and in the for and the first interim standard we're asking nyasha to do what they've already recommended they do based upon the evidence they have today we're asking them to join with the manufacturers who have made the same recommendations based upon the evidence that they have that they have t day and what are they asking them to do this is the first precautionary things that you do isolate them mixing room from the rest of the plant using walls doors or other barriers provide missy and room with a separate ventilation system and  negative air pressure relative to the rest of the plant is maintained in the mixing room yes they're doing this because they have the information as they say that this can cause damage to your tracks your breathing track respiratory tract and your lungs the other side wants to suggest it's a minute if we just knew more we could do better it goes on and on they suggest you're reducing the operating a temperature of holding the missing tanks at a minimum temperature necessary equipping the head space of the mix in a holding tanks with  toilet held in a pure form automating the missing process using closed processes to transfer flavorings these are all designed to protect these workers and they would not have happened but for this committee action but for this floor time for this debate and but for us voting this bill out of here this is the least we can do to ask these agencies to do what they've already recommended they should do to end two thousand and three to a do at least with the manufacturers have already recommended they do in two thousand and four and then we ask them to proceed with a permanent standard using their scientific evidence their data their knowledge not ours and that's the process by which these workers are going to get protection they're not going to get it from the gentleman's amendment on the other side of the aisle and they're not going to get it from stalling the congress from going forward this is our opportunity to respond to an urgent medical crisis in this dentistry by these workers and their the general debate time has expired pursuant to the rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill should be considered as an all out as an original bill for the purpose of an event under the five minute rule and she'll be considered read no amendments the committee amendment is an order accept those printed in house report one ten dash three forty nine each amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designate and the report shall be considered re shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent of the amendment shall not be sub to an amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question one hundred in house report number one can dash three forty nine authored by mr george miller of california pursuant to house resolution six seventy eight the gentleman from california mr miller and a member of poso each control five minutes the to thank you gentlemen and i oppose the amendment because i am opposed to the bill you know one of the great things about congress i say to people is it the ultimate place for those of us with attention deficit disorder because we have the privilege of the day to day basis to go from health air to war to weapon system which airplane is better the c five or the c seventeen to go to farm farm issues how about the cotton program is it good will should we model it after the peanut program then education college primary private school should there be prayer should we lower the to student teacher ratio indeed the president of the united states president clinton stood in this chamber once and called for school uniforms we were experts on that for the day tax policy who should get tax breaks and who should not trade policy which countries are going to be the best to trade with us immigration the list goes on and on and on but unfortunately our expertise does not continue with the demand and issues and here we are talking about popcorn i would say to my friend from california that ninety nine point nine percent of the members here have never been in a popcorn factory i listen to the gentlemen my friend mr miller he does a lot about this i am impressed that he knows mixing rooms and in building walls and so forth but i would say most of us are not and that's why we have agencies and commission like osha set up  because they fill in the blight where we cannot be experts they have scientists who go in and make rule making policies in a balanced way this nonpolitical non emotional that is scientific that goes in there and says before we go out and set a bunch of standards on the private sector let's make sure we have the experts do in the college doing the decision making and yet here we are the nanny state of congress nurse ratchet once more knows best completely oblivious to the fact that the one of the largest manufacturers of microwave popcorn just recently said that they would eliminate this product from their brands and another manufacturer did the same thing and then  on september twenty fifth or said that they will move forward with various measures to address the hazards of the workplace i think that it's interesting that we have actually set up osha to help us and yet we have decided now that we know popcorn and we know best but i would say to my friend from california your expertise is not matched by men ninety nine percent of us i say miss loosley been a great member who does her homework mr wilson and the sapphires who are here ya'll are the popcorn experts in congress and that's it there are no other popcorn experts in congress i think we do have some experts on trade and on taxes and on military things but even they have to rely on agencies and organizations to give them better information and yet we are leapfrogging over this information and i don't know if it's political are what but we seem to be in a big rush to forget the standards that should be set by the proper agency later we'll have the opportunity to vote on mr wilson's alternative to this that would give us your time to set a standard that would be after a study this based on solid scientific evidence it seems to me that that's a more reasonable and more balanced approach to solving this problem and we're not even convinced the data doesn't even say that this problem is big and is urgent as those who are advocating this bill are so i recommend a no vote on this amendment even though i know it is technical in nature but i think we should ultimately vote on the wilson amendment in support of it and then i think we should pass the bill but if the wilson amendment doesn't path we should vote it down because congress is not an expert on this and we should know our limitations and we should let the proper agencies with the gentleman from georgia would come down and ridicule the idea that congress would act in this manner when there's been such malfeasance by the osha ministration by the bush administration and by the oversight of this congress i guess you can try to make light of it if you don't want to take responsibility for your actions what we're recommending today in this legislation is what nyasha recommended for the protection of these workers in two thousand and three and it didn't happen and nobody on the other side of the aisle asked the question why so now we have workers who work in popcorn factories and maybe now another food manufacturing facilities that are losing their lung capacity that are seeking lung transplants that have died and have a disease that is called grotesque by the medical profession and suggested that when you get this it's the equivalent of the damage here lungs if you inhaled acid there may be something trite in that there may be something cavalier in that but i don't see it i don't see it these families these these workers are asking for our help their members these workers are dying the industry has tried to put is asking for our help the labor unions are asking for our help the scientist asking for our help the gentleman would make light this has got to talk to the families who have had members who have died or who have been severely impaired we're hoping hoping that they can get a lung transplant before they die so they might have a chance to see their children and their grandchildren grow up and enjoy their family not to be made light of there's a great deal of malfeasance here by this by this administration by osha by the department of labor and by the failure to have oversight on this and this committee they ought not to come to this floor and make light of this measure this is about people's lives and about their health and about their well being and we should pass this amendment we should we should reject the next a minute and we should pass this legislation it is now in order to consider amendment number two printed in the house report one ten dash three forty nine for what purpose the gentleman from south carolina writes misspeak i have an amendment at the desk the clerk will designate the amendment and then number two printed in house report one can back three forty nine offered by mr wilson of south carolina pursuant to happen lucian six seventy eight the gentleman from south carolina mr wilson and a member opposed each will control five minutes chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina misspeak or my minutes very straightforward this would ensure that the occupational safety and health administration osha set a permissible exposure limit as to buy the underlying bill which can be relied in science and i offer this amendment and then education labor committee and we agreed to work together to see if we could reach an agreement between committee action and today we we're unable to reach an agreement on the time frame addressed by my amendment so i'm offering it the poor consideration i understand my colleagues cold eggs is to set a standard for substance that appears to be harming manufacturing workers in an around microwave popcorn manufacturing facilities i know the well meaning intention of their efforts unfortunately i do not share their belief that this legislation will accomplish that goal first there is widespread concern that while dias till is unquestionably a marker it is not the sole cause of lung impairment in these workers in addition to this however this bill would regulate i ask the till and require a standard to be set based on little or no available science in other words if a food manufacturing facility substitutes diaster to with another flavoring chemical there is no guarantee that that chemical is not the one making manufacturing workers sick technically the bill before us requires osha to set an interim final rule for diacetyl manufacturers and microwave popcorn plants to implement engineering controls spy diaster till exposure then directs osha to set a standard that will apply to all food manufacturing facilities the expansion of coverage from the interim rule to the final rule in the timeframe of two years in which osha is given to set the standard will impact ocean's ability to follow the appropriate legal guidelines that would apply to normal rulemaking all my amendment does is ensure that osha promulgates a regulation that with appropriate stakeholder imput and the science to establish a technologically feasible permissible exposure limit also i should note that osha announced monday it would undertake a rule making on this substance i should note that there is a great deal of ongoing research and data gathering concerning the health effects of diasur till for example the national institute for occupational safety and health is working to improve measuring diaster tilled while the national jewish medical center is working together data from workers about lung function california osha also is working with the industry to gather the much needed information to set a standard without any conclusive evidence which has yet to be generated by any source at this time and point we are putting the cart before the horse and because of this i was speculate or urge my colleagues to support this amendment i reserve the balance of my time all workers hundreds of workers are exposed to die at the till and they've fallen ill it with this the bill of dating lung disease that as chairman miller told you was equivalent to inhaling can you imagine what their lungs looked like and why at the age of thirty a young father has to have a double lung transplant and maybe that won't even save his life the amendment remove the requirement that or should complete final rule making within two years of a knack of enactment of this legislation under this amendment the final rule would not be required to be completed until two  deal should be and must be controlled if nyasha is delayed more workers including the workers we're talking about today will be unprotected while workers in popcorn and flavoring facilities would be protected under the emergency standards workers in other parts of the food industry where i asked to kill is being used would be left unprotected for an undetermined number of years not days not months but years one food manufacturer for example recently announced a new line of artificial butter containing diaster tale despite its hazards to workers those workers would lose protections because of the wilson amendment this interim rule mr chairman covers a narrow band of workers popcorn workers and flavorings with celebes by slow walking this final rule making as mr wilson's amendment would allow other workers exposed to die asked to kill will continue to get sick they will continue to die vote no on any further del speaker and i thank you gentleman for yielding and for his work on this amendment where we're kind of facing a dilemma i think both of us both sides want to protect workers however we want to make sure that they're protected by sound science this amendment immediately starts the ninety day rule which would protect people from diocese all those working on popcorn or other or other  products and then it requires the that within the two years they have the final rule based on on sound science i think that this this amendment would would solve the dilemma to make sure that if  we have moved forward just on by assets all these workers will think they're protected and in the long run they will not be and this is why we're why we're really concerned we move quickly to provide the ninety day rule but then allow the time within the two years to base the final ruling on sound science for that reason i ask that we support the gentleman's amendment that would fix this bill and i yield back the balance of my time germany  members members of the house this amendment was offered in committee and we rejected the amendment and we offered to work with the gentleman we've had a series of discussions and he's he's he's been he's been involved the staff been involved in discussions but at the end of the day the simple fact was that they would not agree to to any deadline for nyasha our osha to act in this amendment we think that timetables that are in the legislation are very important if we take off these timetables all of the past evidence suggests that osha nyasha will sor we don't we don't we don't know about everything else and the workplace but we know what this very bad chemical can do to people and what it's causing for them to do it and so we lay out nyasha to do what they've already recommended the manufacturers laid out then osha can  final rule making if they come back and say they can't do it that's it that's or scientific evidence we're not we're not putting a legislative prescription on them but what we are insisting is they address it and they address it now and they address it on the on the on the evidence that is here and  and that they make a decision and they protect these these workers that's what this legislation is about and that's what this amendment would it would negate and i reserve the balance of my time geminis are jumping from south carolina of years i've had a long time concern about lung illnesses i sincerely believe that the amendment that i have which provides that action would be taken upon scientific evidence is in the interest of the manufacturing workers  in the status quo is killing these workers in these facilities and we have the ability to stop with this legislation we should stop it now we should not any longer empower osha to continue to drag their feet and ignore the health and the safety of these workers and their favoring recorded vote will rise a sufficient number having risen a recorded vote is ordered members will record their vote by electronic device this will be a fifteen minute