mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this important time , and we have all observed with awe the marvelous photos of construction workers sitting on i-beams swinging high above new york city as we admire their bravery , their daring and their skill . 
these tradespeople built america , and i can not think of a citizen in our country that does not respect their prowess . 
well , the worst construction accident in federal transportation history in the city of toledo took place on february 16 last year , effecting serious loss of life and injuries among these modern soldiers of the sky . 
crushed to death on the job were mike phillips , age 42 ; arden clark , age 47 ; mike moreau , age 30 ; and robert lipinski , junior , age 44 . 
there were injuries sustained by many other workers . 
joe blaze , the president of the local ironworkers observed : `` what happened will affect us for generations. '' the local paper reported , the toledo blade , `` workers told investigators the crane 's rear legs were held up with 14 inches of shims and no anchors , while each front leg had shims and only one of two anchors. '' these workers were crushed to death by a several-million-ton crane falling on them . 
i tried at the full committee level to place simple report language in this bill , merely asking the department of labor 's occupational health and safety administration to gather all records relating to inspections , or the lack thereof , on this job and to also provide any communications that have occurred with the u.s. justice department related to this accident . 
this was denied to me by the republican majority . 
i , along with the gentleman from new york ( mr. owens ) xz4003060 , the ranking member of the subcommittee on workforce protections , were prepared to offer an amendment right here today to ask the department of labor to assist our county prosecutor in the investigation of this tragedy . 
this amendment is also being denied to me on a technicality rather than being discussed on its merits . 
osha 's midwest office had ruled there was willful negligence on this job , and for reasons not completely understood , they have changed that ruling to unclassified . 
so as the individual court cases move forth locally , somehow civil litigation will be affected by that change in words . 
now , guess how much osha is able to fine the company and others responsible for this serious loss of life ? 
$ 280 , 000 . 
that is $ 70 , 000 for each lost life , and this money goes to the u.s. treasury , not even to the victims ' families . 
well , there should be more than civil damages and osha 's fines paid to these families . 
our chief of police has bluntly stated these men were murdered . 
there is criminal wrongdoing here . 
my question is : where was osha ? 
where was the state of ohio on this , the largest federal transportation project in ohio history ? 
why is this congress now denying me the ability to get a vote on this amendment which merely asks the department of labor to engage with our county prosecutor to investigate the real causes of those deaths ? 
we have been now told osha has not developed a standard or promulgated a rule stating that foreign manufactured cranes , like this one , must equal or exceed u.s. safety standards . 
recommendations for such a standard were made nearly a year ago , but it has not been acted upon . 
why not ? 
why has this congress not demanded and implemented as soon as possible these regs , or made meeting u.s. standards a condition of eligibility for federal funding ? 
there is a serious abdication of responsibility by the u.s. department of labor because this congress has not held them to a higher standard . 
these men died , in my view , because of the apparent willful negligence of the u.s. department of labor and osha and their allies here in the congress who have been cutting back on worker safety laws and who have abdicated their responsibility to conduct aggressive oversight . 
today , it is likely that my amendment would have been ruled out of order , as my simple effort to get on the record information from the department of labor was denied to me as a member of congress , because the full committee would not even allow report language , a most unusual practice . 
instead , today , i am left with a personal appeal to the secretary of labor to use her existing authority to provide assistance to the lucas county prosecutor for the full prosecution of this case , wherever it may lead , and i ask that we all push for the swift implementation of construction crane safety standards so that no other family or community need endure the great tragedy that has befallen us in northwest ohio on the largest federal transportation project in our state 's history . 
i want to thank the ranking member for yielding me this time and to state also i will place in the record at this point as part of my remarks today a letter we are sending to u.s. secretary of labor elaine chao . 
house of representatives , washington , dc , june 24 , 2005 . 
dear secretary chao : the city of toledo 's police department and the lucas county ( ohio ) prosecutor 's office are attempting to carry out an exhaustive investigation into whether criminal charges should be filed regarding safety violations resulting in the deaths of four ironworkers on construction of the i-280 maumee river crossing in toledo , ohio . 
madame secretary , i ask that you use the authority you have to assist the lucas county prosecutor 's office in their investigation . 
you have been provided the general authority to use the services of any state or political subdivision with reimbursement under section 7 ( c ) of the osh act . 
on february 16 , 2004 our community was shocked by tragedy , when a two million-pound construction crane collapsed at the i-280 maumee river crossing construction site in toledo , ohio . 
the collapse resulted in the deaths of four ironworkers . 
it is with great sadness and a deep sense of responsibility that i bring to your attention further details surrounding this accident and possible criminal wrongdoing by the firm responsible for the bridge 's construction . 
the occupational safety and health administration ( osha ) has fined the project 's general contractor , fru-con , $ 280 , 000 for the incident . 
osha has said that fru-con committed `` willful '' safety violations prior to the crane 's collapse . 
osha has said that fru-con committed `` willful '' safety violations only to reclassify them as `` unclassified , '' and the agency has also pulled out of a special safety `` partnership '' with fru-con , saying the firm did n't live up to the deal . 
an investigation of criminal wrongdoing on a project of this magnitude is an enormous task for any local agency . 
i believe that the department of labor can be of immeasurable assistance to the local entities in this pursuit . 
i look forward to your involvement and counsel . 
sincerely , marcy kaptur , 