Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act

Floor Speech

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - December 19, 2007)

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Ms. MATSUI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4040--the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act of 2007, not only as a Member of Congress, but as a grandmother as well. As I prepare to spend the holidays with my grandchildren, Anna and Robby, it makes me pause to consider how this legislation will benefit them and the children and grandchildren across the country. This year we have witnessed an unprecedented number of dangerous toys and products make their way to the shelves of American stores, resulting in thousands of recalls and Safety warnings. We cannot allow this trend of unsafe products in our homes to continue. Congress must act.

The bill before us today, which I am proud to co-sponsor, will improve the ability for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, to protect the American public from unsafe products. The CPSC has the enormous task of monitoring approximately 15,000 types of products. Over 27,000 deaths and 33 million injuries are associated with consumer products each year. We must ensure that the CPSC has the resources and authority necessary to ensure that the toys and products that we buy for our loved ones are safe. This legislation does precisely that.

The Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act takes a number of important steps to keep our children and grandchildren safe. For the first time, we will have a standard set for levels of lead in children's products. This will be one of the most rigorous standards in the world. It will also increase civil penalties against manufacturers of hazardous products, and establish a third-party certification and testing system for children's products. These and the many other provisions contained within H.R. 4040 will provide the CPSC with the tools required to monitor the evergrowing number of products under its jurisdiction.

Created in 1973 during the height of the consumer movement, the CSC was unfortunately downsized during the 1980s. It has never recovered from those changes, and has not been updated since 1990. Today's legislation will also expand the authority of the CPSC to ensure that only safe toys and products are in our stores and homes.

The CPSC exists to protect Americans from harmful products. We expect that consumer products have been adequately screened and deemed safe before they hit the shelves of our stores. Only by updating the CPSC and expanding its authority can it's mission be accomplished in today's globalized market. Public safety must always trump other concerns. The generations of lawmakers that have gone before us had the wisdom to invest in this agency, and it is now our responsibility to modernize and make long overdue improvements to the CPSC that will keep American families safe and restore faith in the agency.

I want to congratulate Chairman Dingell and the rest of the Energy and Commerce Committee for their hard work on this bill. The legislation that we are considering today has enjoyed strong bipartisan support, clearly demonstrated by its unanimous approval by the full committee. I hope that the House will come together in a similar bipartisan way to advance this important bill.

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