Loading video...
Source: Congress.gov
Summary
No summary available.
Participants
Transcript
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will come to order. I want to welcome everyone here this morning. Without objection, the Chair may declare a recess at any time. Pursuant to Section 3, Subsection R of House Resolution 5, the Committee convenes this Member Day hearing of the 119th Congress. A member day hearing provides members an opportunity to discuss legislation and member priorities within the jurisdiction of the Oversight Committee. Today I look forward to hearing from members of the House, my colleagues on the proposals they wish to bring before the consideration of this committee. We've circulated a list of members who will be speaking today and any testimony provided by those members will be added to the official record. Each member will be given five minutes to discuss their proposals and field questions as needed. I now recognize Representative Rashida Tlaib from Michigan.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity. As you know, the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform must do everything in its power to protect the lives and safety of federal workers and conduct investigations and adopt changes when current agency practices are failing to keep our workers safe. I want to talk about Nicholas John Acker. He was a USPS Detroit Network Distribution Center worker, Allen Park, Michigan, and it was a tragic workplace accident. And again, we don't know, but we know it's heartbreaking, and it's something that we believe is preventable. His body, Mr. Chair, trapped in a mail handling machine, and he had been dead for six to eight hours before he was found. He checked in at 11 a.m. and his body wasn't discovered until the following day at 1230. His death is unspeakable tragedy. For his family who, his mother tearing up and just demanding, looking me in my eyes and said, please, please find out what happened to my son. His fiance, they just got engaged, Mr. Speaker, 10 days before he was killed. What's so tragic about his death is that, and heartbreaking and tragic about his death too, is the fact that he served in our military, US Air Force, for nine years. He wasn't killed serving there. He was killed being a US postal worker. His death, again, is heartbreaking and what we do know from his union is that there were previously raised concerns about safety measures and procedures at this facility and had recently filed a grievance about 90 days prior to his death. The grievance stated that the management was pressuring staff to look for letters while Handling Machine was operating. Over a month after his death, more questions remain, again, remain unanswered. Nicholas was someone's son, Mr. Speaker. Look how young he was. He was a brother and he was a fiance.
Again, he was engaged only 10 days before he was killed. They were planning to get married in the spring. Again, Nicholas served nine years in our U.S. Air Force. He was generous. He was a thoughtful person. He didn't, again, die serving in our military, but here at home. at a sorting facility at a U.S. Postal Service location in Allen Park. Shortly after his death, Representative Debbie Dingell and I wrote a letter to the Postmaster General demanding answer, and thus far, we have not received any responses. Please, Mr. Chair, work with my team and I. If it's legislation that we need to do to make sure this is preventable in the future, let's do that, but we can't allow, again, this to happen. Also in the committee, we know that we oversee a lot of important initiatives that impact prescription drugs. And so another matter, of course, and I know, Mr. Chair, you've been leading on this effort. I do want to enter into the record, if I may, a letter from Covenant Community Care. It's a federally qualified health center.
Sign up for free to see the full transcript
Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.