[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15990-S15991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY

  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I wish to speak on an issue that is 
extremely important to families all across the country--consumer 
product safety. I have spent the past year working with several of my 
colleagues to reform and reinvigorate the agency charged with 
protecting consumers from unsafe products, the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, CPSC. These efforts have resulted in good progress. We have 
restored the Commission's ability to conduct business without a quorum, 
we have provided historic increases in CPSC's funding, and we have 
passed pool safety legislation to protect children from drain 
entrapment.
  Earlier this fall, I introduced legislation, S. 2045, the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2007, to ensure the CPSC has 
the authority and tools they need to protect families from dangerous 
imported products. We have all seen enough evidence in the press and on 
our retailers' shelves to know that reform is needed. Senators Inouye, 
Durbin, Klobuchar, Bill Nelson, Brown, Schumer, Menendez, Casey, and 
Harkin have all joined me in this historic effort, and their 
contributions to the bill have been enormous. The Senate Commerce 
Committee reported S. 2045 in October by voice vote. Since that time, 
we have been working in a bipartisan fashion to move our legislation 
out of the Senate and to provide these protections for the American 
public.
  As many of you are aware, the House of Representatives is scheduled 
to consider their version of CPSC reform today. I applaud the House for 
getting involved in this very important issue and was pleased to see 
that many of the ideas we developed in S. 2045 were incorporated into 
the House bill. I believe this effort is a very important first step to 
reauthorize this agency and provide it with some of the tools necessary 
to work more diligently on behalf of the American consumer. This is a 
goal that I share with all cosponsors of my bill, many of my colleagues 
in the Senate, and my counterparts in the House. While the House bill 
is a good step, I believe S. 2045 contains many additional reforms 
critical to improving our consumer product safety laws. I also believe 
the Senate now stands poised to build upon the actions of the House and 
provide even greater assurances to the American public.
  Though I would have preferred to accomplish this task this year--and 
we have worked very hard to make this a reality--it seems the timing of 
the rest of the week simply makes this task nearly impossible. I would 
say to my colleagues in the Senate that we are very close to achieving 
bipartisan compromise to allow this bill to go forward early next year. 
I have expressed to the majority leader my desire to continue to move 
forward with S. 2045, and I hope to secure time for floor consideration 
at the earliest possible time when Congress returns in January. 
Consumer product safety is too important to the American people to not 
give them our very best effort, and I believe the Senate needs time to 
consider this legislation on the Senate floor.
  I would like to take a moment to highlight some areas of concern that 
I have with the House legislation where the Senate legislation provides 
greater protection, areas that I hope to improve upon when Congress 
returns next year. To begin, S. 2045 provides greater reauthorization 
levels for a longer length of time than H.R. 4040. While the House 
seeks to reauthorize the CPSC for three years, S. 2045 reauthorizes the 
CPSC for 7 years. S. 2045 provides over $526 million more in authorized 
funding than H.R. 4040. Our legislation takes a long term approach to 
reauthorize the agency, which I believe brings stability to the agency 
in addition to their enforcement efforts. The last time the CPSC was 
reauthorized was in 1990 for only a 2-year period. During the 17 years 
between the last authorization and now, the CPSC has withered on the 
vine, a victim of underfunding and understaffing. I believe the 
systemic problems that have surfaced over these 17 years demonstrate 
the need for looking forward to the future as we debate 
reauthorization.
  The Senate bill also gives greater authority to State attorneys 
general to assist the CPSC in their consumer product enforcement 
efforts. While H.R. 4040 only provides State attorneys general with a 
very limited role in protecting consumers, S. 2045 ensures that these 
officials can act as real cops on the beat, looking out for consumers 
and restoring confidence in the marketplace by enforcing the provisions 
of the entire Consumer Product Safety Act, not limited sections.
  S. 2045 also furthers the mission of the CPSC by placing more 
information about dangerous products in the hands of families when the 
dangers become known instead of allowing manufacturers to bog down the 
disclosure of information through lengthy court battles. S. 2045 will 
allow parents to make educated and cautious decisions about the 
products they are placing in their homes. While the House bill only 
seeks to clarify the existing statute in this respect, the Senate bill 
can actually place real and timely information in the hands of 
consumers. I believe such a result can only enhance the security and 
well-being of our fellow Americans.
  One very important difference between the House and Senate version of 
this legislation is the standards set for testing children's toys. H.R. 
4040 asks the CPSC to decide if current voluntary standards are 
feasible for manufacturers' testing procedures and whether they should 
be adopted. It is very obvious to me, as well as millions of moms, 
dads, and grandparents around the country that testing requirements 
must be elevated. S. 2045 would make these voluntary standards 
mandatory for testing and safety.
  Furthermore, S. 2045 adds real teeth to the enforcement capabilities 
of the CPSC. Though I applaud the House for increasing civil penalties 
to which a violator may be subject to $10 million, I do not believe 
this level is sufficient to deter bad actors. Placing dangerous 
products in the hands of American consumers must not be the cost of 
doing business. S. 2045 increases the cap in civil penalties to $100 
million and strengthens criminal penalties for those aggravated 
violators that seemingly show a disregard to the health and safety of 
consumers and the laws enacted by this body. H.R. 4040 does not remove 
the requirement that the CPSC notify violators of noncompliance prior 
to seeking criminal penalties. This may seem minor, but this provision 
of the Consumer Product Safety Act has hamstrung the CPSC's ability to 
pursue egregious violators to the point

[[Page S15991]]

where only one such violator has been pursued. Even the President's 
Import Safety Working Group has recommended this change.
  Last, S. 2045 provides important protections for employees who stand 
up for public safety by blowing the whistle on unsafe products or 
practices. These whistleblower protections are extremely important to 
catching unsafe products before they enter the stream of commerce. 
Employees are often on the front lines of consumer product safety, and 
I believe they deserve protection from retribution if they report 
activities they believe to be in violation of the law. H.R. 4040 does 
not provide whistleblower protections.
  There are many other areas I could highlight where S. 2045 can 
provide more meaningful reform than H.R. 4040, but I believe these to 
be some of the most important. I would like my colleagues to know of my 
commitment for this body to consider and pass meaningful consumer 
product safety reform next year. I will continue to work tirelessly on 
this legislation over the holiday recess, and I will continue to work 
with my colleagues across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation. I 
thank them for their hard work during this process and am encouraged 
with the progress we have made in just the past few days.
  Finally, I would like to thank the cosponsors of this legislation for 
their leadership and persistence on consumer product safety. This has 
certainly been a team effort, and I look forward to continuing to work 
with them to resolve this matter when we return.

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