House Subcommittee Cuts Regulatory Agency’s Funding After Latest Mandate on Private Sector

It’s not a secret that the government, unfortunately, dictates much of the workplace environment and all of the regulations. Employers feel the impact of the regulatory state through oppressive and micro-managing bureaucracies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which auspiciously ensures “worker safety.”

The ability for such heavy influence is found in the mass amounts of funding provided by the government through workplace agencies, like OSHA, that impose restrictive regulations that make our economy increasingly less free. The latest example came in June when OSHA rolled out its latest regulation. Employers are now required to not only document workplace injuries and illnesses, but now they must also send these reports to OSHA in the hopes of expanding OSHA’s control and the compliance of industries.

One way to lessen these restrictions on the free market is to decrease authorized spending on such overly influential regulatory agencies.

The House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee met on July 7 and approved a draft bill to cut OSHA’s 2017 budget by 3.3 percent below the current fiscal year. The proposed allotment of $534.4 million is $60.6 million less than the $595 million President Obama proposed. Surprisingly, this is also even less than the annual $552.8 million OSHA got in 2014 through 2016.

“This is the twelfth and final appropriations bill to be considered by the committee this year. It follows the responsible lead of the legislation before it – investing in proven, effective programs, rolling back overregulation and overreach by the administration that kills American jobs, and cutting spending to save hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.).

Clearly an overstatement for a 3.3 percent cut, but it is a cut and the appropriations committee deserves acknowledgement. It will certainly waste less of our money and perhaps provide less opportunity for OSHA to produce more overbearing regulations.