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Washington — A House Appropriations Committee report provides further details on proposed budget cuts for OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and NIOSH.
Published ahead of the committee’s markup on Sept. 9, the report gives a breakdown by category of the House’s funding allocations. For OSHA and MSHA, that breakdown is a carbon copy of the White House’s budget request that was finalized in May.
The bill, approved by a 35-28 committee vote after the markup, would allocate nearly $582.4 million to OSHA for fiscal year 2026, which begins Oct. 1. That would represent a nearly 8% cut if enacted into law. However, a companion bill in the Senate allocates $632.3 million for the agency.
Lawmakers would need to resolve that difference in their finalized legislation, or they may seek to avoid a government shutdown with a continuing resolution, as they did throughout FY 2025.
The largest cuts for OSHA in the House bill, by dollars, are to federal enforcement (around $23.7 million) and the entire Susan Harwood Training Grant program (almost $12.8 million). OSHA had $243 million for federal enforcement in FY 2025.
The report also includes a committee request that, within 180 days of the bill’s passage, OSHA issue nonmandatory guidance on acquiring and maintaining opioid overdose reversal medication.
“The nonmandatory guidance should also provide employers with how they can offer voluntary training to employees on the usage of such medication,” the report states. “The committee further recommends that this information be made available on the administration’s website for all to access.”
MSHA
For MSHA, the House bill proposes $348.2 million, or a 10% cut, while the Senate bill proposes $387.8 million, the same funding from FY 2025.
The House bill would cut around $14 million from MSHA’s current budget for mine safety and health enforcement and educational policy and development. The agency received around $266.5 million for enforcement in FY 2025 and $39 million for educational policy and development.
The report also contains a request that MSHA provide a briefing, within 120 days of the bill’s enactment, on its respirable crystalline silica rule. Enforcement of that rule has been delayed twice, most recently to Oct. 17.
That briefing should include “an assessment of the technical and operational feasibility for operators to achieve compliance with the rule’s exposure limits and reporting requirements; an evaluation of the accuracy of laboratory analyses supporting enforcement; and information on how MSHA may apply proportionality and flexibility in enforcement actions, including consideration of sector-specific and operational variability.”
NIOSH
The committee differs from the White House in its proposed funding for NIOSH. The Trump administration wants $73.2 million for the agency, including $66.5 million for mining research.
The committee is proposing $312.7 million for the agency, or about 14% less than its FY 2025 budget of $362.8 million – compared with an approximate 80% budget cut proposed in the White House’s request. The Senate bill allocates $363.8 million to NIOSH.
The bill’s report addresses a number of subjects for NIOSH, including:
- Environmental exposures and cancer for first responders
- Lung cancer screening for miners
- Mine health and safety
- Total Worker Health
- Respirator approval
The bill allocates $23 million to the National Personal Protective Technologies Laboratory.
“The committee supports the work of the [NPPTL’s] Respirator Approval Program,” the report states. “This continued funding better ensures that RAP continues its essential work in ensuring that workers in high-risk fields have access to the safest, most advanced respiratory protection available.”
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication