If OSHA’s fiscal year 2013 budget ever gets formal approval by Congress, part of the budget plan calls for cost-savings by consolidating three of the agency’s ten regional offices. States the FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification for OSHA: “In an effort to streamline agency operations, OSHA is reorganizing its regional structure and jurisdictional authority from its current operation of 10 Regional Offices (ROs) to seven.

Washington and financial powers that be are abuzz with daily updates as to whether the U.S. government will actually plunge at year’s end from the so-called “financial cliff” brought on by piling federal debt. There is even talk of Congress returning to DC between Christmas and New Year’s to try to work out a deal.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is warning that budget cuts set to take effect in January of next year will compromise efforts to protect American’s health by slashing funding for food safety, environmental protection and immunization and family planning programs.