Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/819351
"pocket veto" any federal agency rule by simply refusing to vote to approve it within the requisite timeframe. This also has a high probability of enactment. But even in the absence of broad-ranging regulatory reform legislation enactment, there are actions Congress can take quickly – and somewhat quietly – to cut off programs and regulations that it disfavors. That is through "riders" attached to spending bills that prevent an agency from expending appropriated funds for certain purposes. In the case of OSHA, as explained below, there are going to be several legislative vehicles to which riders can be attached coming up soon. Often, these provisions are added during committee markup, or during floor debate, and so don't appear in the published text of the bills being debated. In the case of OSHA, Congress has used this tactic before in recent years, notably to block progress on the Injury & Illness Prevention Program (I2P2) rulemaking under Obama (killing the rule). For FY 2017/2018, prospective riders could force OSHA to stall enforcement of any Obama-era final rules that are currently in litigation or have not yet taken effect. This could affect OSHA's crystalline silica occupational health rule (takes effect June 23, 2017), the e-Recordkeeping rule (part of which, dealing with anti- retaliation, is already in effect, while the data submission requirements take effect July 1, 2017), the walking-working surfaces rule (parts of which took effect in January, other sections 28 PalletCentral • March-April 2017 palletcentral.com SAFETY A number of regulator y reform activities have already occurred within the E xecutive Branch and Congress, including legislation to completely "terminate" the Environmental Protection Agency.