madam speaker , i rise in opposition to h.r. 739 . 
it is part of a package of bills that we have before us today that serve no purpose that i can see but to gut the occupational health legislation record before this congress . 
current law requires that employers challenge a citation or notice of a failure to abate a hazard within a 15-day time period . 
there is a reason that this is a short time period . 
it is because these are serious matters . 
the short deadline was enacted to encourage expeditious handling of cases and to ensure that the workplace hazards are corrected in a timely manner . 
the commission already has the ability to review specific cases of missed deadlines in a manner that protects the & lt ; center & gt ; & lt ; pre & gt ; [ page : h5685 ] & lt ; /pre & gt ; & lt ; /center & gt ; it is clear that h.r. 739 is designed to ease the burden on employers at the expense of the health and safety of workers . 
this is the dramatic change in policy . 
my colleague from georgia said the dramatic change in policy is somehow osha has gained regulatory authority . 
no . 
osha has always had regulatory authority for the last 35 years . 
the real change is this dramatic change in policy that would delay the employers ' responsiveness to the health hazards and increase the time that workers have to work in unsafe conditions . 
these measures would make it more difficult for employees to seek redress and would impede the enforcement of worksite safety and health provisions . 
again , this is one of a set of bills that would serve to gut osha . 
it puts aside , really , the seriousness of the matter here . 
we do not want osha to become just an annoyance or a minor delay or an inconvenience or just the cost of doing business . 
no . 
osha should have teeth . 
there are hundreds of thousands , if not millions , of americans , i do not know who they are , they do not know who they are , who today have their arms , their eyes , their health , even their lives because of osha ; and they do not know who they are . 
but they can thank people like senator pete williams from new jersey and others , who 35 years ago realized that it is the appropriate role of the federal government to be involved . 
i know there are those who think that it would be better if the federal government had never gotten involved in this . 
i suppose they would say , well , the employee could sit down with the employer and the employee could point out the unsafe working conditions and the employer will surely take care of it because no employer wants his employees harmed . 
it just does not work that way . 
it did not work that way for the century before osha was passed . 
let me repeat : there are hundreds of thousands of americans who have their eyesight , who have their arms , who have their health , who have their lives because osha has teeth , because osha requires prompt remedy to unsafe conditions . 
