Bush’s 2006 OSHA Budget Eliminates Training Grants

At a time when the Bush administration is seeking to reduce non-defense discretionary spending by nearly 1 percent, OSHA's 2006 budget is to increase by $2.8 – almost 1 percent of its current $464.2 million spending authority. Details of OSHA's proposed budget were released at a Feb. 7 press briefing in Washington, D.C.

The agency's current staff of 2,208 full-time equivalents would be preserved as the administration calls for few major changes to OSHA programs, with the exception of the elimination of the agency's $10.2 million training grant program.

The proposed budget calls for new spending in two areas: $1 million to expand compliance assistance programs of states operating their own OSHA programs and another $1 million to enhance OSHA's data collection and analysis capabilities.