{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2022-12-27-pt1-PgE1359-3", "2022-12-27", 117, 2, null, null, "HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF RICHARD MILLER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "HONORING", "E1359", "E1360", "[{\"name\": \"Robert C. \\\"Bobby\\\" Scott\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "168 Cong. Rec. E1359", "Congressional Record, Volume 168 Issue 202 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E1359-E1360]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n    HONORING THE RETIREMENT OF RICHARD MILLER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON\n                          EDUCATION AND LABOR\n\n                                 ______\n\n                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT\n\n                              of virginia\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Tuesday, December 27, 2022\n\n  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise to thank Richard Miller\nand honor his public service as the Director of Labor Policy for the\nCommittee on Education and Labor.\n  When people describe Richard, the sentiments range from ``true and\ntireless champion of working people'', ``an expert on any topic\nrelating to workers'', to ``unparalleled knowledge of the issues\nimpacting workers''. Folks have called him charismatic, meticulous,\ndedicated, committed.\n  Prior to working for Congress, he helped workers organize for labor\nrights and battle union busting campaigns from coast to coast and from\nnorth to south. Through his work for the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers\nInternational Union, and its successor Paper, Allied-Industrial,\nChemical and Energy Workers Union, he led advocacy efforts to enact an\noccupational illness compensation program for defense nuclear workers\n(Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program ACt\n(EEOICPA); protect union rights and pension security; fund hazardous\nwaste worker training programs; enact a defense nuclear worker\n``conversion'' and medical screening law; secure a moratorium on the\nsale of radioactively contaminated metals into unrestricted commerce;\nand authorize and secure funding for U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard\nInvestigations Board (CSB).\n  Since its enactment in 2000, EEOICP A has provided benefits to\napproximately 100,000 nuclear weapons complex workers (or their\nsurvivors) for diseases arising from exposure to radiation, beryllium\nand silica. As the Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of\nVirginia, which is home to the Nation's largest private shipyard, the\nCommittee pressed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration\n(OSHA) to expand a proposed beryllium rule to include protections for\nshipyard workers-particularly those around abrasive blasting. Richard\nled the Committee's effort, in conjunction with the Steelworkers union,\nto ultimately secure enforceable protections for our nation's maritime\nworkers from exposure to this ultra-toxic element.\n  Beginning in 2007, Richard joined on the Committee on Energy and\nCommerce, investigating regulatory gaps in energy futures and\nderivatives markets; the Department of Energy's (DOE) program to\nreprocess spent nuclear fuel; price manipulation schemes in propane\nmarkets; crude oil pipeline safety; and DOE's sole-source contracting\nand nuclear non-proliferation programs.\n  In 2009, Richard came to the Committee on Education and Labor under\nthen Chairman George Miller (no relation) and worked under my\nleadership for nearly eight years. Richard conducted investigations on\nthe Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster; the performance of the\nChemical Safety Board's investigations; contested case backlogs before\nthe Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission; mismanaged state\nOSHA programs; the Department of Labor's Whistleblower Protection\nProgram and Black Lung Benefits program, and administration proposals\nto cut federal workers' compensation benefits.\n  Richard maintained a focus on international labor rights by\nsupporting the Speaker's Congressional Monitoring Group on the U.S.-\nColombia Labor Action Plan and the bi-cameral working group on safety\nand labor rights in Bangladesh. Fallowing the repeated fires and\nindustrial disasters killing workers in that country's garment\nindustry, and a government largely unresponsive to labor rights\nviolations, Richard led Committee efforts to enact funding for global\nlabor rights programs and to elevate labor rights as a priority for\nU.S. diplomacy with Bangladesh, while assisting Bangladeshi labor\nrights advocates in communicating their concerns to Congress.\n  As part of his work for the Committee, he has drafted bills to\nstrengthen the Occupational Safety & Health Act, the Federal Mine\nSafety and Health Act, the Black Lung Benefits Act, the Federal\nEmployees' Compensation Act (FECA). As a corollary, he led efforts to\nbeat back three-efforts over six years to cut FECA benefit levels. As\npart of the American Rescue Plan Act, Richard led Committee efforts to\nensure front-line workers in VA hospitals, airports, post offices, law\nenforcement and meat plant inspectors were able to secure workers'\ncompensation for COVID-19 without having to meet an insurmountable\nburden of proof.\n  He has worked to stabilize the black lung benefits program by\nextending the black lung excise tax, reducing backlogs in adjudicating\nclaims, driving reforms in coal operator self-insurance, and rebuilding\nthe black lung clinics program to ensure miners receive pulmonary\n\n[[Page E1360]]\n\nrehabilitation and claims assistance they need. Richard even managed to\nconvince me to go several thousand feet underground to visit a coal\nmine and assess its safety features. And in typical fashion, Richard\nwas quick to ensure the invitation of one of my Republican colleagues\nto join in this venture.\n  The Committee on Education & Labor will miss his wealth of knowledge\nand his enthusiasm for finding ways to improve the life of those\nworkers who lack a voice but need one. We can always count on him to\noffer what he would call ``an observation, not a criticism.''\n  In conclusion, Richard has led his professional life doing the ``good\ntrouble, necessary trouble'' that Congressman John Lewis has called us\nto do. I know that I speak for the Committee in thanking him for his\nservice to this House and the American People and wish him well in his\nretirement.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2022-12-27-pt1-PgE1359-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9858639677986503, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}