Right out of the gate, 1996 got off to a slow start in Washington. The month-long government shutdown followed by a blizzard gave new meaning to gridlock. It doesn't bode well for an action-packed year. Congress will only be in session for 85 days as it is, thanks to presidential primaries, national conventions, and the fall elections.
Actually, this is good news for OSHA. Ever since the GOP "revolution" of November, 1994, regulators have been "walking on eggshells every day," in the words of one OSHA official. They could use some regulatory relief of their own. One slip of the tongue, like Barbara Silverstein talking too boldly about the ergonomics standard last year, gets a knuckle-rapping $3.5 million budget cut.