Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the
bill. The REINS Act would create new obstacles to the promulgation of
regulations designed to protect American workers' health and safety and
to protect the environment.

It would jeopardize the economy by impeding regulations for financial
services and throw sand in the gears of government efforts to address
growing inequality and prevent discrimination.

Congress already has the right to disapprove any rule through the
Congressional Review Act or through appropriations bills or other
legislation. This bill would essentially impose a procedural chokehold
by requiring that any major rule receive affirmative House and Senate
approval within 70 legislative days.

As an example of the effect of this bill, we note that the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, is in the process
of updating a nearly 70-year-old standard to keep workers from
contracting a progressive and frequently fatal lung disease called
chronic beryllium disease.

In the 1940s, workers at the Atomic Energy Commission plants were
contracting acute beryllium poisoning. To deal with the problem, two of
their scientists sitting in the back of a taxicab on the way to a
meeting agreed to set the beryllium exposure limit at 2 micrograms per
cubic meter of air. Established back in 1948, that standard is still in
place today and is often called ``the taxicab standard'' because there
was no data supporting that number.

In 1975, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
advised OSHA to issue a new, more stringent protective standard. That
effort faltered. Now, one cost of inaction is an estimated loss of 100
lives per year each year this new standard is delayed.

Another is the fact that we have to pay over $300 million in Federal
compensation to workers and their survivors who have contracted chronic
beryllium disease and who are employed by the Energy Department's
contractors and vendors.

Today, over 100,000 workers are exposed to beryllium, and workers in
my district are not alone in asking the government to be on their side.
There is substantial stakeholder support from beryllium producers and
labor representatives to cut the standard exposure limit by 90 percent.

Over the last 17 years, OSHA has worked to update that standard,
based on numerous scientific studies and expert recommendations, and
now, the new standard is working its way slowly through the regulatory
process; and under the present laws and procedures, it still might be
another year or two before the final rule is promulgated.

Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that this nearly 70-year-old
standard fails to protect workers, there are still a few who object. By
requiring a bicameral resolution of approval prior to the rule ever
taking effect, this legislation will make it easier for a well-funded
special interest group to block needed workplace protections.

The underlying bill does nothing but prioritize special interests
above the protection of lives and limbs of American workers. I,
therefore, urge a ``no'' vote on this bill.

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