OSHA, MSHA Fare Well in Bush's 2009 Budget; CDC Hit
OSHA and MSHA were not hit hard in the fiscal 2009 proposed budget released by the White House, but a $376 million cut, 6 percent, from the current year's estimated spending is proposed for the Centers for Disease Control. NIOSH's portion of the CDC's $5.691 billion total is not broken out in the summary documents posted by the Office of Management and Budget.
The summary for the Labor Department shows $501.7 million is recommended for OSHA in FY09, up from this year's estimated $486 million in spending. OSHA chief Edwin Foulke Jr. said in a news conference this afternoon that this is the first time an OSHA proposed annual budget has surpassed $500 million. OSHA projects it will conduct 37,700 inspections in FY09 and publish four to five proposed rules, Foulke said. The budget calls for 2,165 full-time employees, up 47 from the current year, he said.
Bush proposed $332 million for MSHA in FY09, down a fraction from the estimated $334 million the agency is spending this year. The federal government's fiscal 2009 will begin Oct. 1, 2008. The total recommended for the Labor Department in FY09 is $54.213 billion, up 9 percent from this year's estimated spending of $49.667 billion.