ROBY SAYS OSHA TARGETS SOUTHERN AUTO INDUSTRY

U.S. Rep. Martha Roby of Montgomery questioned U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez on Wednesday about his plans to subject Alabama car part manufacturers to extra federal safety inspections because, he said, they have a higher rate of workplace injuries than the industry nationwide. "There is a problem in Alabama," Perez said at a House committee hearing. He said Alabama factories making automotive parts reported 4.6 injuries per 100 workers, compared with three injuries per 100 workers in the industry overall.

Perez's figures for Alabama were from 2010 but Roby said that 2012 data contradict Perez. Nationally, the motor vehicle parts manufacturing sector experienced a total injury rate of 5.3 injuries per 100 workers in 2012, compared with 3.4 per 100 in all of private industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency under Perez's control.

Roby said her review of Labor Department data doesn't show the industry is less safe in the South than anywhere else in the country. "If you treat similar businesses differently in different parts of our country ... there should be a really high expectation of justification for doing so," Roby said. Roby believes OSHA is singling out the region because of its right-to-work laws and largely non-union auto workforce.

OSHA in January announced a "regional emphasis program" for the auto parts manufacturing industry in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, areas that are traditionally non-union. Roby believes the inspections are part of a broader plan to assist union efforts to organize southern auto plants. Roby wrote Perez on March 27 and her questions to him Wednesday didn't settle the matter, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

She wonders why modern, non-union facilities in the South would warrant more scrutiny than their older, unionized counterparts in the Midwest. "Absent a compelling rationale grounded in fact, OSHA's targeted enforcement tactics become susceptible to charges that they are at best arbitrary, and at worst discriminatory," she wrote. She said timing of the initiative is questionable given the recent rejection of a union organizing attempt at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Union representatives have been allowed to accompany OSHA inspectors on visits to non-union facilities.

Click here for video of Roby questioning Perez about OSHA partnering with unions.

The U.S. Senate this week sent a proposed Medicare physician payment solution to President Obama, a fix that would prevent a cut in doctor payments for one year until a permanent fix can be crafted. As POLITICO reported, the Senate on Monday approved the bill on a bipartisan 64-35 vote. The latest "doc fix" prevents a 24 percent cut in physician pay and comes after a battle on Capitol Hill over whether to permanently repeal the formula - and the politically dicey question of how to pay for that - or patch it for another year, POLITICO said.

The cut could have begun Tuesday but House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., worked out a deal after it became clear that there was no bipartisan way to pay for the permanent repeal effort negotiated earlier this year. There have been 16 of the patches including last week's that passed the House on a voice vote after no notice for many House members.

The Business Council of Alabama and more than 250 other businesses and organizations in a letter urged all members of Congress to quickly reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. The original act was the result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania airplane crash, in an attempt to insure against the risk of terrorism.

The letter sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges reauthorization of the TRIA, which is to expire on Dec. 31. The act has served as a vital public-private risk sharing mechanism and ensures that private terrorist risk insurance coverage remains commercially available at virtually no cost to taxpayers.

"Maintaining a workable federal terrorism insurance mechanism is vital for our nation's economic security, and without adequate coverage, our ability to mitigate further economic fallout in the event of an attack would be greatly impaired," the letter signed by BCA President and CEO William J. Canary said. "While TRIA is not set to expire until the end of the year, the American business community needs certainty so that it can continue to focus on its primary mission of creating jobs."

U.S. senators are finalizing "patent-trolling" legislation months after the House passed legislation to prevent abusive patent infringement lawsuits, according to aides quoted by Roll Call. The bipartisan, bicameral push to crack down on so-called patent trolls has the support of the White House, is a top priority for Silicon Valley, and represents the rare policy area in which lawmakers believe they can overcome election-year gridlock and send a major bill to President Barack Obama's desk, Roll Call said.

Putting their two-cents in on the bill are powerful economic forces such as tech firms, pharmaceutical companies, and research universities. Google, Dell, Adobe, Verizon, BlackBerry and other major tech interests want the Senate to replicate key provisions in the House-passed bill, which would change the rules of the civil justice system, Roll Call reported. The effort is to shut down the business model favored by trolls, or "patent assertion entities." They acquire vaguely worded or broad patents and then sue other companies for infringing on them as a way to extract costly legal settlements or licensing fees, Roll Call said.

POLITICO: Senate Democrats want Majority Leader Harry Reid no matter what 

POLITICO (Raju, Bresnahan 3/4) "Reid's support remains solid in part because most Senate Democrats blame the White House - not him - for their increasingly tenuous hold on power. Boosting his standing with colleagues, Reid is on a relentless fundraising drive to help raise money for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Senate Democrats' main super PAC, the Senate Majority PAC,

"'Absolutely,' Sen. Mary Landrieu, a vulnerable Louisiana Democrat facing voters this fall, said when asked if she would back Reid as leader no matter the outcome of the November elections. 'We all share in success, we all share in the failures; we're a team. But Harry Reid has tremendous respect of members of our caucus. ... I don't believe that he would be challenged in our party for leadership until he's ready to step aside'.

Leaders of both parties resist wage compromise

POLITICO (Raju, Everett 4/3) "The small number of senators who are open to compromise on a minimum wage hike are facing stiff resistance: their own party's leadership. On the Democratic side, moderates like West Virginia's Joe Manchin and those facing reelection like Mark Begich of Alaska are open to finding a middle ground with Republicans. But they are up against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his leadership team, who are refusing to entertain any wage increase below their party's target of $10.10 per hour.

"A similar dynamic is unfolding on the GOP side where lawmakers like Bob Corker of Tennessee are willing to at least open debate on the plan. But he's not finding a receptive audience from GOP leaders, who are signaling they are prepared to block the measure from even coming to the floor. Top Republicans, however, said blocking a minimum wage bill is the best way to telegraph the party's frustration with the Democratic-led Senate's priorities.

"President Barack Obama has made a minimum wage hike a top election-year priority as Democrats try to focus voter attention on economic inequalities and away from the health care law. Under a plan developed by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the minimum wage would increase incrementally from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour over a three-year time frame and rise gradually after that with inflation. The bill would also gradually raise the wage for tipped workers, who have been paid an hourly rate of $2.13 since 1991. It will likely not be taken up until after this month's Easter recess.

Sessions praises Commerce Department's decision upholding fair trade rules for catfish

Sessions (4/3) "I am pleased that the Commerce Department's administrative review has upheld their previous finding that Indonesia is an appropriate surrogate country for pricing Vietnamese catfish. The previous solution of Bangladesh was clearly not appropriate. Before this surrogacy was established, Vietnam was able to skirt the rules of fair trade and underprice its goods resulting in enormous harm to the U.S. catfish industry. Much more needs to be done to ensure our workers in Alabama can compete on a level playing field, but this is a move in the right direction."

BACKGROUND:

Over 5,800 jobs in Alabama are directly related to the catfish industry. This industry generates more than $158 million for the Alabama economy, and Alabama catfish producers currently produce over 100 million pounds of catfish per year, complying everyday with U.S. health, environmental, and consumer protection standards.

In March 2014, Sen. Sessions spearheaded a letter to the Commerce Department Secretary urging her to uphold the last Administrative review and maintain Indonesia as the surrogate country for Vietnam in determining fair price for catfish imports, please click here.

In March 2013, Sessions led the effort which resulted in a Commerce Department decision to use Indonesia as a surrogate country for Vietnam to best calculate the price per pound of frozen fish fillets. This decision subjected Vietnamese imports to appropriate and reasonable standards to ensure domestic catfish producers would not be victims of unfair pricing. For the full release, please click here.

House votes to change work week definition to counter Obamacare

AL.com (Kirby 4/3) "The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill on a mostly party-line vote to change an Obamacare rule classifying employees who work at least 30 hours as full time. The 248-179 vote in favor of the 'Save American Workers Act' included support from all six Republicans in the Alabama congressional delegation; Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, voted "no."

"The bill, which faces grim prospects in the Democratic-controlled Senate, would count workers as part time unless they work at least 40 hours a week. Supporters contend that the change would protect some 2.6 million jobs that are threatened by an Affordable Care Act requirement that companies provide insurance. Supporters argue that companies will respond to the law by reducing workers' hours below 30 hours so that they will count has part-timers.

"'Obamacare is striking at the very heart of the American economy, placing workers at risk of having hours cut and forcing small businesses to make tough choices on whether to limit growth to avoid expensive fines,' U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, said in a prepared statement. 'This law threatens to create a new class of part-time workers forced to find two or more jobs just to get by. This doesn't represent the promise of the American dream so many have risked their life to protect'. Byrne cited a study by the conservative-leaning Hoover Institution that 2.6 million workers earning less than $30,000 a year are in danger of having hours cut back by employers facing fines under the health care law."