The law, he says, does not specifically rule it out, and recent decisions by industrial tribunals imply that parliamentarians' jobs are covered by European employment legislation.
But Republicans still have the power to block climate legislation in the Senate, especially with some Democrats from coal and industrial states also ambivalent about cap-and-trade.
The House passed legislation two years ago that would force OSHA to quickly issue rules regulating combustible industrial dust, but the proposal stalled in the Senate.