Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights, and Agency Action will hold its first hearing on regulatory policy. The hearing, titled "Justice Delayed: The Human Cost of Regulatory Paralysis," will examine the important benefits of public protections and the very real costs of regulatory delay.

Judd Gregg, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire and current CEO of the Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), recently wrote an opinion piece for The Hill attacking new environmental and public health standards and financial protections.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and David Vitter (R-LA) sharply questioned staff from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in yesterday's Senate hearing on oversight of federal risk management and emergency planning programs that are designed to prevent incidents at hazardous chemical plants.

The biggest problem illustrated by the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Tex., is not that OSHA is focusing on the wrong threats, but that its hands are tied and that it does not have the resources or the support to ensure that our nation’s workplaces are safe. The explosion at the West Fertilizer Company illustrates why Congress should act swiftly to strengthen our main workplace safety law so OSHA has the authority and the resources to protect workers.