mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , the fourth bill we will debate today is another narrowly crafted bill that addresses a specific osha problem . 
in short , we strongly believe that small businesses that face meritless osha enforcement actions should not be prevented from defending themselves simply because they can not afford it . 
the occupational safety and health small employer access to justice act levels the playing field for small businesses and encourages osha to better assess the merits of a case before it brings unnecessary enforcement actions to court against small businesses . 
under current law , the equal access to justice act allows small business owners to recover attorneys ' fees if the owner successfully challenges a citation . 
however , if osha can establish that its enforcement action was `` substantially justified '' or the result of `` special circumstances , '' small businesses can be refused attorneys ' fees even if osha loses the case in court . 
historically , the law 's `` substantially justified '' and `` special circumstances '' standards have made it easy for osha to prevent recovery under this broad standard , so attempts by small business owners to recover costs often exacerbate the financial harm caused by osha 's dubious enforcement actions . 
let us look at some of the facts . 
in 2004 , osha cited 86 , 708 violations based on its nearly 40 , 000 workplace inspections . 
yet , how many applications were filed for attorneys ' fees against osha in 2004 ? 
that number is four . 
yes , exactly four . 
how many were granted ? 
three . 
three . 
moreover , for the last 25 years , only 1 year has seen more than ten applications filed for attorneys ' fees against osha . 
now , when you compare that number to the more than 80 , 000 osha violations cited every year , you start to wonder . 
we heard testimony in our committee on this issue , and what we found is that the law 's `` substantially justified '' and `` special circumstances '' standards have made it easy for osha to deny small businesses the ability to recover attorneys ' fees . 
what these numbers tell us is that small businesses can already see the writing on the wall . 
they know that osha has the upper hand , and if the prospect of recovering attorneys ' fees is as bleak as it appears , then why fight the citation at all ? 
small employers should not be forced to knuckle under to osha citations and settle up front when they know and believe that they are innocent . 
this measure simply forces osha to carefully evaluate the merits of its cases against small employers before they bring the case . 
if osha 's case is weak , and they bring the case anyway , then the agency will have to pay attorneys ' fees , and rightly so . 
employers face relentless competition every day in the face of high taxes , rising health care costs and burdensome government regulations . 
the last thing they need is a meritless osha-related litigation that could take years to resolve . 
last week , the labor department reported that more than 3.7 million new jobs have been created since may of 2003 . 
we want to make sure that onerous government regulations do not hamstring small businesses ' ability to continue to hire new workers and compete in our economy . 
frivolous litigation kills jobs , and this measure will help ensure that osha carefully considers the merits of its case before they bring an enforcement action . 
the measure before us is , again , narrowly crafted and a commonsense bill that addresses a specific problem in the osha law . 
it passed the house last year and deserves the support of all of our members . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
