Democratic lawmakers object to move to roll back US worker respiratory protections

Democratic lawmakers in the United States have called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Osha, to abandon a rollback of respirator mask regulations. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and several other lawmakers made the call.

The lawmakers wrote to Osha assistant secretary David Keeling. Keeling is a former executive at UPS and Amazon.

Under the proposed rules, employers would face fewer requirements to provide workers with respirators when working with substances including lead, asbestos, formaldehyde and inorganic arsenic, among other chemicals, the lawmakers wrote.

The letter also noted that the agency is trying to end a requirement for employers to provide medical evaluations to employees who wear specific types of respirators in their work.

According to the lawmakers, the rules show that the Department of Labor, Osha's parent department, is endangering workers and prioritizing the interests of unscrupulous employers over Americans who work hard to provide for their families.

On average, more than 5,000 Americans die annually from occupation-related respiratory illnesses, the letter said. In recent years, rates of silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis have been on the rise due to artificial stone used for countertops and increased silica exposure in coal seams.

The lawmakers said Osha issued the proposed rules in July 2025 without providing required evidence or requesting information needed to implement them. They also criticized the agency for holding a procedural hearing in August, during Congress's recess when no lawmakers were on Capitol Hill.

Most Osha standards take years to move through the same steps these respirator rules have moved through in a matter of months, the lawmakers wrote.

The letter was also signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker, Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib and Jasmine Crockett, and more than 20 other congressional Democrats.

Unions and medical and industry experts have also warned Osha against pulling back the standards, including the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, National Nurses United and North America's Building Trades Unions.

The Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade association, said in a comment against the rules that quality safety regulations save contractors money in the long run and any deregulatory benefits associated with the proposed rule will be outweighed by potential liability down the line.

The lawmakers said the rollback is part of a broader deregulatory effort at Osha under the Trump administration, which had proposed more than 60 deregulatory rule changes in the Department of Labor last year.

Republicans have proposed to cut Osha's budget by over 8 percent for fiscal year 2027. In 2025, Osha inspections dropped by 20 percent and the agency lost 223 full-time employees to buyouts and early retirements amid efforts to significantly cull the federal workforce during Trump's second term.

Osha did not immediately respond to a request for comment.