Washington Digest
Back In Action, House Moves Mining Safety Bill
Last updated Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:29 PM CST in News
By Steve Tetreault
THE MORNING NEWS
WASHINGTON -- Back at work following a holiday recess, the House last week passed a bill toughening rules for mining safety.
Lawmakers voted 214-199 to require mine operators to install wireless communications and tracking equipment within 15 months.
The bill also aims to protect miners' health by cutting in half the allowable exposures to coal dust that causes black lung disease.
It also increases penalties for mine operators that violate safety laws, and gives the government powers to shut down mines that do not address problems quickly.
The bill was given momentum by the collapse last August of the Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah that killed six miners and three rescue workers.
Among its provisions, the bill increases oversight of dangerous "retreat mining" that was practiced at the Utah mine. After workers exhaust an underground deposit, they pull out the pillars holding up mine chambers as they retreat and pluck whatever coal can be gathered before the roof collapses.
The White House and the mining industry fought the bill, saying the reforms would be costly and would jeopardize safety improvements that were being put in place after Congress passed a comprehensive mine safety bill 18 months ago.
Among other things, that bill gave companies three years to upgrade wireless communications and underground tracking devices.
Second District Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, voted for the mining safety bill.
First District Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett; 3rd District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers; and 4th District Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, voted against it.
Defense Reworked
The House reworked a defense authorization bill rather than get into a veto fight with President Bush.
Bush refused to sign the bill over the holidays after Iraq complained about a provision that would expand the rights of victims to sue the new government for torture suffered at the hands of the since-deposed and executed Saddam Hussein.
The bill would have allowed plaintiffs to freeze Iraqi government assets in U.S. banks, prompting Iraq threats to withdraw up to $25 billion it had in U.S. financial markets.
Voting 369-46, the House passed a revised bill exempting the Iraqi government from liability.
Some House leaders said they did not want to hold up the defense bill any longer. The sweeping measure allows members of the armed forces to collect a 3.5 percent pay raise and includes other veterans health care and military construction programs.
But others complained Bush and Congress were caving to Iraqi threats rather than the claims of Americans including former prisoners of war who were held by the former Iraq regime.
Berry, Boozman, Ross and Snyder voted for the revised defense bill.
Housing Expanded
The House voted 271-130 to expand the repair and replacement of old and decaying public housing over the objections of President Bush.
Bush argued the HOPE VI program was inefficient and slow and should be shut down. The new bill extends the program through 2015 and requires the replacement of all public housing that is torn down with an equal number of units.
The acronym HOPE stands for Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere.
Bill sponsors pointed out that more than 30,000 public apartments and homes have been demolished without replacements built, forcing some families into homelessness.
Ross and Snyder voted for the public housing bill.
Boozman voted against it.
Berry did not vote.
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