[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 167 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13597-S13598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, our Nation's haphazard trade policy too 
often allows contaminated food and dangerous toys onto our shelves and 
into our homes, and this administration has done little to curb the 
toxic tide.
  Earlier this month, I asked Ohio's Ashland University chemistry 
Professor Jeff Weidenhamer to test 22 Halloween products for lead. 
Three products tested were found to contain high lead levels. 
Acceptable levels of lead, according to the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, are 600 parts per million for adults. According to CPSC, 
there is no acceptable lead level for children. A Halloween 
Frankenstein cup that Professor Weidenhamer tested--presumably a cup 
that may end up in a child's mouth--contained 39,000 parts per million 
versus 600, which is acceptable for an adult, and zero acceptable for a 
child.
  For more than 40 years, parents trusted that their children's toys 
were safe from lead. The safety net secured to help our families is 
being systematically dismantled, as the Presiding Officer, the Senator 
from North Dakota, has pointed out so well, by our Nation's failed 
trade policies and an apathetic administration. Forty years ago, we 
banned lead in paint. Now we must ban lead in toys. I am a cosponsor of 
legislation with Senator Obama that would do that.
  While a ban on lead in toys is an important step, it doesn't get at 
the heart of the problem--our failed trade policy. Until we get tough 
on enforcing safety standards abroad, we won't be able to prevent 
contaminated products from ending up on store shelves across the 
country and in our homes.
  Distributors seeking low-cost products stretch supply chains to China 
and cut costs; that is, American companies that import go to China and 
other countries and push them to cut costs, to cut corners, and then 
those products are brought back into the United States. That means lead 
paint in toys because it is cheaper to buy and to apply, it means too 
often contaminated products in our homes, and it means zero 
accountability.
  We have not made the importers, the contractors, or the Government 
accountable because of cuts at the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
and because we have a top Commissioner there who has simply weakened 
that agency and abdicated responsibility. As yesterday's report 
highlighted, we must do more to ensure the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission has what it needs to do its job.

[[Page S13598]]

  I am a cosponsor of legislation sponsored by Senator Pryor that would 
reauthorize and strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Its 
budget is half what it was when it began in the 1970s in real dollars. 
The staff has dwindled over the years from 1,000, including inspectors, 
to 420. We must instead increase funding and staff at the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission. We must increase coordination between the 
CPSC and Customs officials. We must give the Commission the authority 
to examine and approve other nations' regulatory systems before imports 
from a country get onto our store shelves.
  When we buy tens of billions of dollars of toys, tires, and other 
consumer products from a country that has weak environmental laws, weak 
food safety laws, weak consumer protection laws and, at the same time, 
when our companies that import from other countries push subcontractors 
in those countries to cut costs, this is what we end up with. That is 
why we must give the CPSC the authority to examine and approve other 
nations' regulatory systems.
  Unfortunately, as imports from China and other trading nations rise 
and the recall of toxic products at home increases, the Bush 
administration continues to call for more Consumer Product Safety 
Commission cuts.
  Yesterday, the Times reported that Chairwoman Nord of the CPSC plans 
to actively work to kill the Pryor legislation. That is unacceptable. 
This administration's apathy for policies that protect our families is 
at best shameful and at worst potentially deadly.
  One thing I am sure of: It is time for Nancy Nord of the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission chair to step aside. She is the acting 
chairperson but, unfortunately, we have seen a lot more inaction than 
we have action. It is time to put a chairperson in place who is not 
satisfied with ``we are doing the best we can.'' We need a chairperson 
who fights for the authority and the resources the Commission needs to 
do the job it is supposed to.
  Her response to the wave of product recalls has been, to put it 
charitably, underwhelming. She is fighting efforts to make more 
information available to the public about product hazards. She opposes 
protections for whistleblowers who identify shoddy products, and, most 
importantly, in the face of recall after recall, she has offered no 
plan to equip the CPSC to fulfill its role in product safety. She 
spends most of her time trying to make sure her agency isn't 
scrutinized or held accountable for doing its job. We need a permanent 
chairperson dedicated to doing the most important thing the CPSC is to 
do--protecting families and our children, not protecting corporate 
interests.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________