Ergonomics Regulation Repeal. Congress had long demonstrated a complete lack of interest in enacting ex-pensive and unconstitutional national ergonomics standards. So President Bill Clinton dumped onerous OSHA-instituted ergonomics rules on the American people in the closing days of his administration, and arranged for those rules to take effect a mere four days before the inauguration of George W. Bush. "Ergonomics" is the design of equipment and work environments to best suit a worker’s health and productivity, and ergonomic regulations are generally federal rules mandating standards of worker comfort in the workplace. Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.) described the expansive scope of the OSHA regulations: "By OSHA’s own estimates, this ergonomic rule will cover over 102 million employees, 18 million jobs, and 6.1 million businesses and cost almost $100 billion a year to implement." Passage of S. J. Res. 6 would provide congressional disapproval of the OSHA ergonomics rule and declare that the "rule shall have no force or effect."
The Senate adopted the joint resolution on March 6, 2001 by a vote of 56-44 (Roll Call 15). We have assigned pluses to the yeas.
