madam speaker , i rise today to speak in opposition to h.r. 739 , a bill to amend the occupational safety and health act of 1970 to provide for adjudication flexibility with regard to the filing of a notice of contest by an employer following the issuance of a citation or proposed assessment of a penalty by the occupational safety and health administration .  in essence , this bill would amend current law to authorize the occupational safety and health review commission ( oshrc ) to make exceptions to the 15-day deadline for employers to challenge osha citations if the employer 's failure to meet this deadline is due to a `` mistake , inadvertence , surprise , or excusable neglect. '' this would weaken the ability of the occupational safety and health review commission to enforce the current deadline and would encourage increased litigation and disrupt osha 's ability to address workplace hazards in a timely manner .  osha is already `` astonishingly ineffectual '' in protecting workers ' lives .  in the past 20 years osha has failed to seek criminal prosecutions in 93 percent of the cases where employers ' willful and flagrant safety violations ended up killing workers .  ( new york times/december 2003 ) .  furthermore , according to a recent gao report , since 1996 , osha has cut resources dedicated to enforcement by 6 percent .  the u.s. lags behind other western nations in protecting workers ' lives .  a u.s. construction worker is 4 times more likely to be killed on the job than one in denmark .  ( center for worker rights 2004 ) .  as a new york state supreme court judge observed : `` why congress has adopted such a spineless response to industrial malfeasance is best left to voters to assess. '' ( newsday , 1/15/04 ) .  as responsible members of congress , we can not afford to vote for this bill .  i urge my colleagues to oppose h.r. 739 .  