{"id":13165,"date":"2026-01-14T07:38:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=13165"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:20:57","slug":"congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/14\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Hearing: Protecting an Industry that is Killing Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A<\/span> subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning at 10 AM ET with the snappy title Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Protecting the U.S. Stone Slab Industry from Lawfare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hearing\u00a0is focused on a truly outrageous bill\u00a0\u00a0H.R.5437 – Protection of Lawful Commerce in Stone Slab Products Act<\/a>.\u00a0 If passed, it would ban federal and state lawsuits by workers with silicosis against manufacturers of artificial stone slabs that are used to make kitchen countertops. In California alone, hundreds of these workers have developed silicosis and dozens have died<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill was written to protect Cambria<\/a>, the major US producer of these slabs. Cambria’s CEO is Marty Davis, a major financial<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ideological <\/a>supporter of President Trump, which may explain why the Judiciary Committee is holding the hearing.<\/p>\n

\n
What is more important than protecting the industry that is killing its workers?<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The chairman of the committee is Jim Jordan (R-OH) and the ranking member is Jamie Raskin (D-MD). The Democratic witness is former OSHA head Dr. David Michaels, so it promises to be exciting.<\/p>\n

Because what is more important than protecting an industry that is killing its workers?<\/p>\n

You can stream it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing this morning at 10 AM ET with the snappy title Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Protecting the U.S. Stone Slab Industry from Lawfare. The hearing\u00a0is focused on a truly outrageous bill\u00a0\u00a0H.R.5437 – Protection of Lawful Commerce in Stone Slab Products Act.\u00a0 If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-silica"],"yoast_head":"\nCongressional Hearing: Protecting an Industry that is Killing Workers - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A House Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing today on protecting the silica industry from the workers it is killing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/14\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congressional Hearing: Protecting an Industry that is Killing Workers - Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A House Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing today on protecting the silica industry from the workers it is killing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/01\/14\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Confined Space\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T12:38:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T19:20:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iStock_000062437178Medium-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jordan Barab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jbarab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@jbarab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jordan Barab\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jordan Barab\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"headline\":\"Congressional Hearing: Protecting an Industry that is Killing Workers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T12:38:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-14T19:20:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":211,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bcc6bf185c17840824cfc3ef7522f3c5\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/iStock_000062437178Medium-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\",\"Silica\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jordanbarab.com\\\/confinedspace\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/14\\\/congressional-hearing-protecting-industry-condemning-workers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Congressional Hearing: Protecting an Industry that is Killing Workers - 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