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• Rep. Kristi Noem, who was among a group of lawmakers pressing for action on the issue, said the response was sufficient and that withdrawing the memo would provide clarity and prevent confusion.
• "Without (doing) it, family farms that already have a strong personal interest in keeping their operations safe could have had to deal with costly and unnecessary OSHA investigations of their private bins," the South Dakota Republican said.
• Kennedy wrote that the 2011 memorandum was an attempt to address a rash of grain bin deaths and never intended to change the agency's policy. Withdrawing the memorandum was the easiest way to avoid confusion and officials from OSHA and the Department of Labor are already working with the Department of Agriculture on crafting agreeable language, he wrote.
• Kennedy's letter came after lawmakers pressed the Department of Labor for clarification on the issue and warned that they would not accept changes to long-standing practices for family farms without congressional action. In letters from a group of U.S. senators and two separate letters from members of the House, lawmakers said any attempt to regulate family farms would violate the law and Congress' intent.
• Noem said that everyone wanted safe farms, but that OSHA's memo could have been misinterpreted in a way that was never Congress' intent.
• "OSHA simply tried to circumvent a law that's been on the books since the 1970's," she said. "I'm proud to have helped in keeping OSHA in check."
• Kennedy's letter was addressed to the House Education and Workforce Committee, which had written the Department of Labor seeking clarification.
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