A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves, reports The Daily Caller.
The Department of Labor has been putting the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.
“Prohibited places of employment,” a Department press release read, “would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.”
The new regulations, first proposed August 31 by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, would also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course.
The kids protested and they won out. Citing public outrage, the Department of Labor has withdrawn the proposed rule and issued the following statement:
The Obama administration is firmly committed to promoting family farmers and respecting the rural way of life, especially the role that parents and other family members play in passing those traditions down through the generations. The Obama administration is also deeply committed to listening and responding to what Americans across the country have to say about proposed rules and regulations.
As a result, the Department of Labor is announcing today the withdrawal of the proposed rule dealing with children under the age of 16 who work in agricultural vocations.
The decision to withdraw this rule – including provisions to define the 'parental exemption' – was made in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms. To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration.
(htKeithKelly)
Bureaucrats do not give up. They may have lost this round but the bureaucrats will wait and employ The Seven Rules of Bureaucracy (Pettegrew: Mises Daily, Mises.org)
ReplyDeleteThey are:
1) Maintain the problem at all costs.
2) Use crisis and perceived crisis to increase power and control.
2a) Force 11th hour decisions, threaten the loss of options and opportunities, and limit the opposition's opportunity to to review and critique.
3) If there are not enough crises, manufacture them, even from nature, where none exist.
4) Control the flow and release of information while feigning openness.
4a) Deny, delay, obfuscate, spin and lie.
5) Maximize public-relations exposure by creating a cover story that appeals to the universal need to help people.
6) Create vested support groups by distributing concentrated benefits and/or entitlements to these special interests, while distributing the costs broadly to one's political opponents.
7) Demonize the truth tellers who have the temerity to say, "the emperor has no clothes".
7a) Accuse the truth teller of one's own defects, deficiencies, crimes and misdemeanours.
Love it. You are dead on right Peter. These sociopaths are slowly losing control as they tighten the noose-- their penchant for control becomes far less nebulous. But they don't give up because they have the stolen resources and the bureaucratic command posts that enable time and planning to launch a future assault on the slave rebellion. There is much hope yet only a complete loss of faith resulting in widespread disobedience can foster liberty.
DeleteQuote: To be clear, this regulation will not be pursued for the duration of the Obama administration.
ReplyDeleteWhat they're probably not saying is they mean the remainder of this term. If he's reelected I can guarantee this will be back. There will be some BS lip service that they meant the administration in a 4 year term period.
"The Obama administration is firmly committed to promoting family farmers . . ."
ReplyDelete[Raw, animal-derived fertilizer]!. Nobody under 16 works for Monsanto. Therefore, the Obama Administration must ban kids from working on family farms and other small operations that compete with Monsanto.