House committee approves OSHA bill; moves it to the floor

A bill to tighten enforcement in OSHA and MSHA advanced a step Wednesday, receiving approval in the House Education and Labor Committee in a vote along party lines.

The changes to OSHA were originally in a bill called the Protecting America’s Workers Act, but the measure was merged with one to tighten enforcement in the nation’s mines after an accident in West Virginia earlier this year killed 29 coal miners.

Committee Republicans said changes to OSHA should be stripped out of the mine safety bill and made a motion to do so, but it failed in a vote.

The bill now moves to the House floor.

For a more complete account of Wednesday’s debate, see an article in “The Hill.”

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