Panel OK's expanding consumer safety agency
WASHINGTON - Over the objections of the Bush administration, a Senate committee unanimously adopted sweeping legislation yesterday that would extend the authority of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and sharply increase its budget and staff.
House and Senate Democrats also called for the resignation of the acting chairwoman of the agency, Nancy A. Nord, criticizing her for raising many of the same objections to the legislation that have been made by the manufacturers the agency regulates.
The bill would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers, and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate safety laws. It would ban lead in toys and give state prosecutors the authority to enforce federal consumer safety rules. Nord has objected to those and other provisions in the measure.
The legislation is a response to a series of recent disclosures of major product defects, most notably dangerously high levels of lead in millions of toys. A consensus has emerged among Democrats that the safety commission, whose budget and staffing have been repeatedly cut, is unable to adequately police the marketplace.
"It is very clear to me, as well as millions of moms and dads around the country, that the CPSC is failing to keep dangerous toys and products out of the marketplace," Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat and cosponsor of the bill, said.
He said the legislation "infuses the agency with the resources and authority it needs to keep dangerous toys and products out of our homes."
Nord, a former lawyer at Eastman Kodak and a former official at the US Chamber of Commerce, recently sent lawmakers letters attacking the legislation as unworkable and counterproductive, mirroring concerns raised by manufacturers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined other senior Democrats in the House in calling for Nord's resignation, as did Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
A spokeswoman for Nord said Nord did not plan to resign.
