CAPITOL HILL

House Challenges Bush on Perkins Act
Contrary to President Bush’s wishes, the House voted 416-9 on May 4 to approve a bill extending federal support of vocational education programs for high school students and young adults. The bipartisan Perkins Act reauthorization directs $1.3 billion annually to technical training and career-oriented education, such as programs that provide students with nursing and auto-mechanics certifications.

In his February budget proposal, Bush had proposed eliminating the Perkins Act programs in favor of extending the testing and accountability provisions of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act into additional high school grades. However, congressional support for the administration’s high school proposal has been weak, in part because of concern on the part of Congress about the 2002 law’s implementation, and in part because of bipartisan support for the Perkins Act programs.

The Senate voted 99-0 to approve its version of the Perkins Act renewal on March 10. The Bush administration has stopped short of threatening to veto the reauthorization.

Democrats Criticize EPA Inaction on Lead Paint
Five congressional Democrats asked why the Environmental Protection Agency has not issued rules requiring contractors to be trained and certified in handling lead-based paints before performing residential renovation and remodeling jobs.

Congress required the EPA rules to protect children from lead exposure during home improvement projects by 1996. The lawmakers, who learned last month that the Bush administration is developing a voluntary program instead, called the move “unacceptable” in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.

EPA is hesitant to impose mandatory training that could cost from $1.5 billion to $3 billion, spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said.

REGULATORY

Senate Confirms Nominee to Run EPA
The Senate April 29 confirmed President Bush’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, ending a standoff with a Democratic senator who had delayed votes to protest the administration’s environmental policies.

The Senate voted 61-37 to break a procedural roadblock and then quickly approved Stephen Johnson, the EPA’s acting chief, to serve as the agency’s next administrator.

Though a popular choice, Mr. Johnson’s confirmation was slowed by a Senate tradition in which a single senator can put a hold on a nomination, sometimes for reasons unrelated to the candidate. Sixty votes are needed to end holds.

In the case of Mr. Johnson, a career EPA employee, Democratic Senator Thomas Carper of Delaware blocked a vote because he said the EPA for three years had ignored his repeated requests for an analysis of how the president’s proposals to reduce air pollution compared to different approaches proposed by Senator Carper and other lawmakers.

Sen. Carper said his argument was never with Mr. Johnson and his action had “sent a clear message that the White House and federal agencies have a responsibility to provide Congress with information that will help us write good, balanced legislation.”

Nominated in March, Mr. Johnson takes over from Michael Leavitt, who now heads the Health and Human Services Department. He has worked at the EPA for about 25 years and is the first person with a science background to be nominated to lead the agency.

Farewell to Junk Fax
Junk mail, fax-style, can get you in trouble. The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 gives citizens the right to stop future faxes, to recover monetary damages up to $500 for each unwanted fax, or both. If the court finds that the sender willfully or knowingly violated the law, awards can be increased up to three times the amount of damages.

Not all faxes are against the law, however. Only “unsolicited advertisements” violate federal law. And beginning in July, the only way advertisements can be sent by fax is if the receiver has given written permission. The current “opt-in” requirements allow junk faxes if an “established business relationship” is present.

Other federal rules include the requirement that messages sent to a fax machine be clearly marked with the date and time the transmission is sent, the identity of the sender, and the telephone number of the sender or of the sending fax machine.

State lawmakers too have passed a variety of law that place restrictions on unsolicited faxes. For example, Arizona law requires that unsolicited commercial fax advertisements include the name, address, and fax, toll free or local contact telephone number of the vendor. Both Minnesota (9-point) and Tennessee (12-point) specify the font size required to be used in the text of unsolicited faxes.

WORKPLACE SAFETY

OSHA Renews Partnership with AMEC Americas
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and AMEC Americas have renewed an agreement to encourage construction employers to improve their safety and health performance and eliminate the most common workplace hazards affecting the construction industry.

“ We welcome the opportunity to continue our partnership with AMEC and build upon our efforts to improve worksite safety and health for construction workers,” said Jonathan L. Snare, acting assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. “We will continue to work toward our objective of significantly reducing occupational-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the construction industry.”

T he partnership stresses the implementation of enhanced safety and health management systems and increased employee training. The partnership also underscores the importance of employee involvement in the daily implementation of work site safety and health.

OSHA and AMEC Americas will work together to accomplish the following key goals:

• Reduce workforce injuries at each participating work site to 30 percent below the national construction industry rate;
• Expand awareness of the value of effective safety and health management systems;
• Support and encourage subcontractors toward greater participation in OSHA’s cooperative programs; and
• Convey safety and health best practices and injury/illness reduction lessons learned at participating worksites.

OSHA and AMEC will continue to work together to identify programmatic needs at specific sites and provide technical assistance to correct identified workplace hazards. In addition to participating in AMEC training sessions and meetings whenever possible, OSHA will provide access to various training resources including those available through OSHA Training Institute courses.

SMALL BUSINESS

SBA and GSA Renew Agreement to Work to Increase Small Business Contracting Opportunities
The U.S. Small Business Administration and the General Services Administration (GSA) have renewed their agreement to strengthen the relationship between the two agencies and share information about small business contracting opportunities in order to encourage more small business participation in the GSA’s federal contract procurement process.

The memorandum of understanding, which was signed April 28, also will bring the two agencies together to disseminate to small businesses information about opportunities for contracts, training, workshops and matchmaking-type events taking place across the country.

“The Bush Administration has seen more federal contracting dollars awarded to small businesses than ever before, but we know we can do more,” said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto. “This partnership will help us do that by integrating our activities better and sharing more information with small businesses looking for contracting opportunities.”

Under the agreement, GSA and SBA will work together to have GSA representatives attend federal contracting workshops and matchmaking events held across the country.

SBA will help GSA identify industries in which there are many small businesses capable of fulfilling federal contracts, provide information to GSA on SBA’s Mentor-Protégé, 8(a) Business Development and other federal contracting programs, and will issue quarterly reports on the status of GSA’s major procurement goals for small businesses, women-owned small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, HUBZone businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

GSA will also provide updated forecasts of contracting opportunities to be awarded.

POLLS

I Owe, I Owe, It’s Off to Shop I Go
Got your eyes on an 84-inch, HDTV-ready plasma TV? Go for it – that’s what plastic is for. Or is it? Americans are already too much in debt, and we’re far too willing to go into debt to get what we want, according to more than nine out of 10 respondents to a KRC Research survey.

Eighty-nine percent agreed that it’s much more acceptable today to incur debt related to goods and services than it was 10 years ago, while 72 percent said it’s more acceptable today to carry debt that ultimately doesn’t get paid off.

Why settle your debts? Three out of four respondents said people pay their debts because if they don’t, they’ll have to answer to a collection agency. Sixty-four percent said paying your debts is the right thing to do.

How Green, America?
Public perception of the quality of the environment hasn’t changed much in the past year. A plurality (48 percent of respondents) think environmental conditions are “only fair,” according to a Gallup Poll. Fifty-four percent were optimistic that we will have our environmental problems under control in 20 years, and 54 percent think we are already seeing the effects of global warming. Nine percent said global warming will never happen.

Americans are divided on how well President Bush has protected the environment: 50 percent said he’s doing a poor job, 39 percent said he’s doing a good job, and 8 percent called his performance fair.

Increasing Gas Prices Taking Their Toll
For the second month in a row, Americans see gas prices as the top economic problem facing the country – beating out jobs, according to Gallup. Nineteen percent chose fuel and oil prices, a 2-point rise since March – when the number more than tripled from February’s 5 percent.

The latest ABC News/Washington Post consumer-confidence index also cites gas prices as one reason for flattened confidence. Analysts noted that the weekly ABC/Post index has stabilized at its lowest point in nearly a year.

Other recent polls revealed anxiety about gas prices. Nearly nine in 10 respondents to an Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs survey said higher energy prices affect them personally, and 51 percent of those respondents said more price hikes would result in financial hardship. In early April, 58 percent told a CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll that recent price increases had already caused them hardship.