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“HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF RICHARD MILLER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the in the Extensions of Remarks section section on pages E1359-E1360 on Dec. 27, 2022.
The Department provides billions in unemployment insurance, which peaked around 2011 though spending had declined before the pandemic. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, claimed the Department funds "ineffective and duplicative services" and overregulates the workplace.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF RICHARD MILLER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION AND LABOR
______
HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise to thank Richard Miller and honor his public service as the Director of Labor Policy for the Committee on Education and Labor.
When people describe Richard, the sentiments range from ``true and tireless champion of working people'', ``an expert on any topic relating to workers'', to ``unparalleled knowledge of the issues impacting workers''. Folks have called him charismatic, meticulous, dedicated, committed.
Prior to working for Congress, he helped workers organize for labor rights and battle union busting campaigns from coast to coast and from north to south. Through his work for the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union, and its successor Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union, he led advocacy efforts to enact an occupational illness compensation program for defense nuclear workers
(Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program ACt
(EEOICPA); protect union rights and pension security; fund hazardous waste worker training programs; enact a defense nuclear worker
``conversion'' and medical screening law; secure a moratorium on the sale of radioactively contaminated metals into unrestricted commerce; and authorize and secure funding for U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board (CSB).
Since its enactment in 2000, EEOICP A has provided benefits to approximately 100,000 nuclear weapons complex workers (or their survivors) for diseases arising from exposure to radiation, beryllium and silica. As the Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of Virginia, which is home to the Nation's largest private shipyard, the Committee pressed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) to expand a proposed beryllium rule to include protections for shipyard workers-particularly those around abrasive blasting. Richard led the Committee's effort, in conjunction with the Steelworkers union, to ultimately secure enforceable protections for our nation's maritime workers from exposure to this ultra-toxic element.
Beginning in 2007, Richard joined on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, investigating regulatory gaps in energy futures and derivatives markets; the Department of Energy's (DOE) program to reprocess spent nuclear fuel; price manipulation schemes in propane markets; crude oil pipeline safety; and DOE's sole-source contracting and nuclear non-proliferation programs.
In 2009, Richard came to the Committee on Education and Labor under then Chairman George Miller (no relation) and worked under my leadership for nearly eight years. Richard conducted investigations on the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster; the performance of the Chemical Safety Board's investigations; contested case backlogs before the Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission; mismanaged state OSHA programs; the Department of Labor's Whistleblower Protection Program and Black Lung Benefits program, and administration proposals to cut federal workers' compensation benefits.
Richard maintained a focus on international labor rights by supporting the Speaker's Congressional Monitoring Group on the U.S.-
Colombia Labor Action Plan and the bi-cameral working group on safety and labor rights in Bangladesh. Fallowing the repeated fires and industrial disasters killing workers in that country's garment industry, and a government largely unresponsive to labor rights violations, Richard led Committee efforts to enact funding for global labor rights programs and to elevate labor rights as a priority for U.S. diplomacy with Bangladesh, while assisting Bangladeshi labor rights advocates in communicating their concerns to Congress.
As part of his work for the Committee, he has drafted bills to strengthen the Occupational Safety & Health Act, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, the Black Lung Benefits Act, the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA). As a corollary, he led efforts to beat back three-efforts over six years to cut FECA benefit levels. As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, Richard led Committee efforts to ensure front-line workers in VA hospitals, airports, post offices, law enforcement and meat plant inspectors were able to secure workers' compensation for COVID-19 without having to meet an insurmountable burden of proof.
He has worked to stabilize the black lung benefits program by extending the black lung excise tax, reducing backlogs in adjudicating claims, driving reforms in coal operator self-insurance, and rebuilding the black lung clinics program to ensure miners receive pulmonary rehabilitation and claims assistance they need. Richard even managed to convince me to go several thousand feet underground to visit a coal mine and assess its safety features. And in typical fashion, Richard was quick to ensure the invitation of one of my Republican colleagues to join in this venture.
The Committee on Education & Labor will miss his wealth of knowledge and his enthusiasm for finding ways to improve the life of those workers who lack a voice but need one. We can always count on him to offer what he would call ``an observation, not a criticism.''
In conclusion, Richard has led his professional life doing the ``good trouble, necessary trouble'' that Congressman John Lewis has called us to do. I know that I speak for the Committee in thanking him for his service to this House and the American People and wish him well in his retirement.
____________________
