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“CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3885 on March 29, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT
(Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday of this week the Department of Labor will be hosting a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of passage of the Mine Safety and Health Act. Although I will not be able to attend that ceremony, I do want to call it to my colleagues' attention, and commend those in government, industry, the mining work force, and others, who have helped, over that period of time, to make our country's mining industry the safest in the world.
Anniversaries are a time not only to look back but to look forward. Clearly one of the major challenges over the coming years, in all Government programs, is to determine how can we assure the best use of the taxpayer's dollar. We know now what maybe Congress did not appreciate 25 years ago, that we cannot afford to do everything, and so we have to make sure that when Government spends money, it is getting the most value for the taxpayer's dollar.
In that regard, I would note for my colleagues that the Mine Safety and Health Administration spends over $550 per year per covered employee, while its sister agency, OSHA spends about $2.84 per covered employee. We should determine whether it is good use of taxpayer dollars to continue to duplicate many of the functions performed by these two agencies. Just as is true with OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration spends too much time inspecting safe work sites and enforcing trivial requirements.
Over the coming weeks and months, I hope to examine those issues and see whether the answers given 25 years ago remain the right answers today for allowing our country's mining industry to be competitive in a tough world marketplace, while continuing the improvements that have been made in worker safety in this very important part of our Nation's economy.
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