New Leadership Needed at the Consumer Product Safety Commission

This year our nation has witnessed recall after recall of contaminated products including toys, vitamins, pet food, and tires. Our fundamentally-flawed trade policy, mixed with a resistant consumer protection agency, has eroded nearly 40 years of safety standards in our nation -- safety standards that allowed parents to trust that their children's toys were lead free.

I am proud to cosponsor legislation authored by Senator Pryor that would strengthen the Consumer Protection Safety Commission -- the agency charged with keeping our families safe from contaminated products.

Earlier this week, however, a New York Times story revealed that CPSC Acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord is actively working against these improvements. That is just plain shameful.

This morning's Washington Post revealed that -- in addition to fighting agency improvements -- Chairwoman Nord has enjoyed trips across the country paid for by the very toy companies she is responsible for regulating. That is just plain outrageous. These were trips paid for by the toy industry, the industry now under scrutiny for cutting corners. Corners that earn big profits for industry CEOs and send toxic toys into our children's bedrooms.

Parents have the right to trust that their children's toys are safe. Every American has the right to trust that their government is doing its job to keep us all safe. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case with the CPSC.

Instead of working to strengthen her agency, Chairwoman Nord claims that her agency simply does not have the resources to improve. She claims that the legislation now working its way through Congress would over-burden the agency.

Why then -- one must ask -- did Chairwoman Nord fail to ask for more money when she met with the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this year? The 2008 budget that Chairman Nord defended before Congress doesn't even increase the Commission's resources enough to account for inflation. It leaves this agency less well equipped to prevent harm to children and the rest of us.

She stood up before the House Financial Services Appropriations Committee and defended this budget, never once asserting the need for additional resources. What better opportunity could she have had to exercise her right to voice her views on funding?

The CPSC budget is half of what it was when it began in the 1970s. The CPSC staff has dwindled over the years from nearly 1,000 to 420. We must increase funding and staff to the CPSC. We need to increase coordination between CPSC and Customs. We must give CPSC the authority to examine and approve other nation's regulatory systems before imports from a country get on our store shelves. And we need a leader at the CPSC who supports these goals.

It is clear that Chairwoman Nord does not, and so she should step down. She has been given the responsibility of doing everything in her power to keep our families and our children safe. Instead, Chairwoman Nord supports an abysmal agency budget request, is actively working against efforts to strengthen her agency, and takes trips funded by manufacturers.

Chairwoman Nancy Nord should step down. It's time to put a Chairperson in place who is not satisfied with "we're doing the best we can." We need a chairperson who fights for the authority and resources the CPSC needs to do the job it is supposed to so.

We need real leadership at the CPSC. Leadership that does not side with manufacturers over consumer safety. Leadership whose only bottom line is the safety and well being of our nation, of our families, of our children.

Comments

[Pdubya]

we don't even need the commission. we need new trade laws, period.

[mamacita]

Right now it's the toys with lead paint and the poison pet food that's in the news, but it's much, much, more than that.

Apple juice, for example, served on a regular basis to our children. Pick up a plastic bottle of apple juice and check the printing on the bottle itself. Many of the house brands in grocery stores have "concentrate from China" printed directly on the bottle.

Don't we grow apples in the US? Do they ship apples on the slow boat to China (rotting all the way) to be processed? Is it really that much more expensive to grow, pick, and process apples in the US?

Apparently, the corporate hogfest for profits has resulted in the outsourcing of not only our jobs, but our ability to actually produce anything. Bonus by-product of this process is the ability to cut costs by eliminating any meaningful quality control.

There are still those deluded individuals out there that tell you that you should buy American, you just might have to pay a little more, and look a little harder. Well, I finally found a way to buy American--garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores.....

[therealredstateblues]

Senator Brown. Congress needs to assert its constitutional authority and regulate trade,

We need to putting tariffs on every good coming in to the country from low cost countries, not only to level the field for our own manufactured goods, but also the proceeds of these tariffs could be used in multiple ways.

First they should be applied toward the cost of the increased inspection these unsafe products require

Second - to create a safety net for people and business harmed by unfair trade - such as health care, extended unemployment benefits, and tuition assistance for job retraining.

Thirdly - use it towrds paying down the federal deficit - since foreign countries control a large portion of this debt, it will remove the influence they have on our national sovereignity.

[jqcitizen]

Shortyfuse I agree all produces sold in the US should clearly state the country of origin.
Hopefully Sen. Brown will re-introduce a Bill that passed the Republican Senate, a few years ago, requiring clothing manufacturers in the Marianas Islands (a US Territory) to either cease using the 'Made in the USA' lable or comply with USA minimum wage laws. The Senate passed this Bill 98-0.
Guess what? Tom Delay wouldn't even allow the House of Reps. to mention it on the floor. Why? J. Abramoff was the lobbyist representing the owners of those 'Sweat-shops' that uses slave labor from Asian countries. Today these 'Made in the USA' clothes are sold in the fancy department stores not just Target and Wal Mart.
So, lables are a good idea but really do not mean a lot

[darker]

Congress has done NOTHING MUCH about corruption by Bush Administration appointees who work for
corporations instead of for the interest of US Citizens and Taxpayers.

Congressmen "complaining" is bullsh*t when they
never lift a finger to solve these and other severe problems.

Congress = SLACKERS who bullsh*t and complain but DO NOTHING.

[Shortyfuse]

Hey Senator. Why don't you try to get a law past that all imported products (including food and medical supplies.) be marked with the company and country of orgin. Not that I think that Americans will stop buying the crap. I would like for them to see just how many third world rat holes their vanishing pay checks are supporting.
Of course the obstructionist Republicans would turn red faced and start grabbing their pocket books over that law.

[dnels]

CPSC stands for Consumer Product Safety Commission, not Consumer Product and Safety Commission or Consumer Protection Safety Commission.The Senator or whomever is responsible for headline composition should be better informed and aware that accuracy is important.

[therealredstateblues]

We on the left and on the labor side of the democratic party have been asleep at the wheel and allowed the neo-liberal wing take over - the differences bewtween neo libas and neo cons are very subtle - essentially no difference at all.

I think the reason most folks didn't pay attention when Nafta was passed if because of the way it was framed.

The early whistle blowers like Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot were largely despised by the left so they were ignored. The MSM did a good job painting Perot as a kook. The "Buy American" campaigns were dismissed as being too pro-unionist.

Then Bill Clinton jumped on the bandwagon and sold everyone a bill of goods on the "vast new markets" for US goods and services, the "rising tide will lift all boats" and stop the waves of illegal immigration by raising third world living standards. Right - who really believed that third world countries would be buying US products in any meaningful way? We have an 800 billion trade deficit that pretty much puts the lie to that. And boats only float if you have one - hence the flood of illegals that continue to flow across the border.

During the Clinton years no one noticed outsourcing that much - because it was something that was happening to "someone else". Now its hard to find someone who hasn't been affected - a friend, neighbor, family member or even yourself.

Globaliztion is neo-libera­l/neoconse­rvative ideology built on lies. None of the promises of globalization have come to pass for working people.

So now we are paying the piper in the form of poor quality and unsafe products, all in the name of corporate profiteering.

[clevelandchick]

Is there nothing Congress can do about these federal agencies fraught with corrupt cronies that are doing far more damage to our nation than Osama Bin Laden could ever dream of? Name a federal agency: Mine Safety, FEMA, the EPA, the FDA, the FCCand so on. Every single one has been degraded to the point of uselessness to the American people.

So far Congress has had hearing after hearing after hearing on this common fatal problem affecting every agency within our government. Yet NOTHING has been done!

You can't keep blaming the Republicans in Congress, the time is now for every Democrat in Congress who gives a damn about this nation to get in front of every camera on every network and raise bloody hell about the fact the Bush Administration has single-handedly taken every effective government agency down the toilet.

[BillORightsMan]

This is just a symptom of a larger problem. The GOP has placed cronies in just about every department and agency, with the goal of Norquist's "Drowning the Government in a bath tub" edict.

Take for instance the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Bush can't get his crony Richard Stickler in so he does the end-around with a recess appointment. See HuffPo's "Mine Safety Czar Richard Stickler: Another Bush Fox Guarding the Henhouse"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/08/15/mine-safety-czar-richard-_n_60581.html

How about Elaine Chao at Labor? She was a former Heritage Foundation Fellow! She comes in the mix with mining in 60 Minutes' "A Toxic Cover-Up?" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/01/60minutes/main609889.shtml.

John Bolton, Michael Brown, John Snow, and a host of others were appointed to guard Big Business instead of policing the agencies they head.
A rundown of cronyism is at "Old American Century" http://www.oldamericancentury.org/bushco/cronyism.htm and a list of administration ties to big business can be fould at "The Bush cabinet: a government of the financial oligarchy" http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/may2001/bush-m16.shtml.

Thank you, Senator Brown, for taking this on. One has to wonder what other imported plastics have lead in them, from computer keyboards to steering wheels, kitchen utensils and a host of other common plastic consumer goods. I have a feeling the kids' toys are just the tip of the iceberg.

imbillorig­htsmanandi­approvethi­smessage

[Shortyfuse]

I am with Lt. NeoCons (including the Heritage Foundation) are out to destroy the middle class in the name of greed.
To the Heritage foundation: Enablers. I hope you have children and grandchildred and I hope that they have to pay the price for your actions.
You have unleashed the greed of capitalism on an overpopulated world. You have not ended poverty in the world, you have unleashed greed. Bush Enabler.

[Dantheman99]

Senator, I am glad to see you are on the ball with this.

Will you be one of 41 Democrats willing to filibusterr any war funding bill that does not specify withdrawing the troops by the end of Bush's term?

Please so the same outrage about the Iraq war you are showing about this issue, and please consider replacing Harry Reid with a majority leader with backbone.

Thanks.

[scooperss]

Yawn. We need new leadership ..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..period.

[BeamMeUpScotty]

Obviously, Ms. Nord was told by her bosses that her agency was unimportant and did not deserve nor require increased funding. Poisoning our children apparently is just fine with Ms. Nord.

The mandate of the CPSC has not been carried out and that is against the law. So is taking graft from the companies she regulates.

[Purple Girl]

We are starting to get the idea that this flooding of our market with these inferior, dangerous and cheap products is a means to undermine our economy. I believe the Constitution was writtne for the citizens of the US, not the corporations originating form our shores- but no longer real contributors to our economy.
Frankly Sir where does th eallegience of this Congress lie- With US or Mattel, or Halliburton, Blackwater, Exxon,......We are the United States of American - not America Inc. And you work for US, not them. If this makes no sense to you- then resign and pick up your Executive washroom keys like everyone else in this current era of politics of corporationism.