Ending Obama Regulation Allows Focus on Employee Safety, Not Bureaucrats
‘It’s a regulation that purports to look out for workers’ best interests but actually does little to achieve that outcome. The Volks Rule merely empowers Washington bureaucrats and increases paperwork burdens instead.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the repeal of an overreaching Obama-era regulation that detracts from employee safety in the workplace:
“Last night, the Senate voted to overturn a harmful regulation that undermines Alaska’s authority to manage its wildlife resources and shifts more power toward Washington. Today, we’ll have yet another opportunity to bring Americans relief from heavy-handed regulations using the legislative tools provided by the Congressional Review Act.
“That proposal would undo the so-called Volks Rule, which is named for the 2012 federal court case overturning an ill-advised Obama Administration regulatory action on the same subject. It’s a regulation that purports to look out for workers’ best interests but actually does little to achieve that outcome. The Volks Rule merely empowers Washington bureaucrats and increases paperwork burdens instead.
“As the Coalition for Workplace Safety recently pointed out, this regulation does ‘nothing to improve worker health and safety,’ it ‘directly contradicts both clear statutory language and two U.S. Court of Appeals rulings,’ and it also represents ‘one of the most egregious end runs around Congress’ power to write the laws.’
“I’ve heard from Kentuckians who are similarly concerned by this overreaching regulation and have called for Congress to end it.
“In one recent letter to my office, the Kentucky Roofing Contractors Association called for the repeal of the Volks Rule because it ‘does nothing to improve workplace safety and could be used to impose costs on employers for inadvertent paperwork violations.’ In fact, as they point out, it could even ‘divert resources away from efforts to improve workplace safety and create jobs.’
“In another letter I recently received, a Lexington construction contractor said he needs his safety supervisors ‘constantly walking jobsites, identifying hazards and making sure our coworkers go home safely every night,’ but said this regulation ‘forces me to choose between allocating resources to preventing future accidents or auditing old paperwork.’
“That’s our decision today – focusing on actual safety of employees or on more bureaucratic paper pushing. Senator Cassidy of Louisiana understands the challenges this regulation presents, and he’s been a leader in working to protect American businesses from those consequences. I appreciate his efforts, and I look forward to the Senate passing it soon.”
Related Issues: Congressional Review Act, Regulations
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