In that atmosphere, it's hard to imagine that Congress is actually thinking about substantially weakening workplace health and safety. In Public Employee's last health and safety column, we told you about legislation which would severely cripple efforts to protect workplace safety and health. Since Congress has not yet approved a final spending bill for this year, OSHA has to operate under temporary funding. The agency has been forced to scale back its enforcement, consultation and state-run programs. No state-run program, no federal protection.
States receive a large part of their funding from the federal government.
So the federal shutdowns every time temporary funding runs out have meant that several states have had to significantly scale back their programs. Polls show that the American people support a strong, federally enforced safety and health program. Not to the workers nor to the representatives of workers. Not to those numerous employers who support strong workplace safety and health laws because they know that prevention saves lives and in the long run also saves money. And certainly not to President Clinton who has said that he will veto these measures if they are approved by Congress.