As that classic bit of advice campaign staffers gave form President Clinton when he was running for the White House: “It’s the economy, stupid.” (That’s all voters care about).

With the economy now running on fumes, GOP leaders attack any regulatory initiative as a jobs killer.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) delivered a scathing attack on Democratic policies in a speech recently in Cleveland that included this statement: “Now is not the time to raise taxes on anyone, least of all small businesses that are the engine of growth in this economy.”

OK, simply substitute “now is not the time to increase regulation on anyone, least of all small business…” and you get the idea.

OSHA reform legislation has yet to make it out of the House, where Democrats enjoy (at least until the November elections) a comfortable majority, let alone make any progress in the Senate at all. You can be sure business groups will use Boehner’s argument that the current economic malaise, stagnancy, double dip recession or whatever is holding up growth is no time to be jacking up penalties and expanding the powers of a regulator like OSHA.