I’m not sure that was their intention, but what could make hiring undocumented workers more attractive than passing a law that “prohibits undocumented workers from receiving payments if injured on the job?”

If a President or Congress want to dismantle worker protections or other government programs, they don’t have to repeal or change legislation; they can work their damage through the budget process. Slash the budget of a program you don’t like, and those protections no longer exist. Check out the President’s proposed budget in that context.

Representatives of the construction industry, as well as general industry have petitioned Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to reopen the silica standard, workplace safeguards that would save over 600 lives and prevent more than 900 new cases of silicosis each year.

Sometimes, when you’re reading about the tragedies in the Weekly Toll, there are a few that you think, “Well, that’s too bad, but what are you going to do….?” Like this one in this week’s Weekly Toll:

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Ali Khan, a 38-year-old United cab driver was shot and killed while on duty early Friday morning, according to information acquired by the New Orleans Advocate. The incident occurred just before 7:30 a.m. near the intersection of Lake Forest Boulevard and Michoud Boulevard, close to Interstate 10.

The FY 2017 Omnibus Budget bill that was released by Congress today provides a flat overall budget for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and a $2 million cut in the budget of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The standards programs of both agencies were cut, while compliance assistance was increased.

Earlier this week I reviewed a New York Times article on conflicts of interest among Trump political appointees that highlighted a new Labor Department Special Assistant, Geoffrey Burr. Burr is a former lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, and his federal disclosure form notes that he lobbied DOL against the silica standard and the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces regulation that would have required federal contractors to disclose federal labor law violations.

This is not generally how a good company wants a supervisor to respond to a worker who reports unsafe conditions: “Next time you have a problem with safety, talk to me. Then get in your car and hit the f***ing road.” Then you write him up, don’t renew his contract — and, for good measure, fire his son for “talking on the job.”

Another depressing installment of the Weekly Toll. Note that there are 39 fatalities listed here, going back, more or less, for about a week. There are an average of 13 workers killed every day on the job in the United States, which means the list below only covers about one-quarter of the workers actually killed on the job over the last week.

There are many metaphors that are commonly used in Washington DC. One of those metaphors is to describe something at “the third rail of politics.” Wikipedia defines “third rail of politics” as “a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is “charged” and “untouchable” to the extent that any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically.”