You can put the feeding tube in, now

The Bush Administration and Republican congress have finally reduced Federal occupational health and safety protection to a Persistent Vegetative State so I guess they feel it's OK to put in the feeding tube and use its empty shell for political purposes.

As evidence, Jordan at Confined Space tells us that the Republican Congress Things at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education April 7 OSHA appropriations hearings were happier than pigs in shit, as reported by Jim Nash at Occupational Hazards:

Ostensibly the hearing was about the administration's fiscal year 2006 budget request, but the subject of money never arose as Republican members of the panel praised OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for emphasizing education, compliance assistance and other business-friendly voluntary programs.

"We didn't get a lot of complaints about OSHA, so you must be doing something right," Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, told Acting OSHA Administrator Jonathan Snare, after Snare completed his testimony. Regula chairs the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education.

"I think MSHA is doing a wonderful job," asserted Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., another subcommittee member. Sherwood praised the agency, and Acting Administrator David Dye, for working with employers and miners to improve safety by offering compliance assistance while "still getting the production out."

Jordan, as always, nails it:

One thing you can be confident of in Washington is that when Republicans are happy with what OSHA's doing, it's a sure sign that the agency isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing: protecting workers.

[NB: Posting date corrected]