Wyden, Merkley Call on Trump Administration to Reverse Plans to Eliminate Consumer Product Safety Commission
Lawmakers: “Americans rightfully expect that the products they bring into their home are safe, and only the CPSC has the authority and expertise to ensure that expectation is met.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (both D-Ore.) said today they have joined dozens of lawmakers from the Senate and House in urging the Trump administration to reverse plans to eliminate the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which develops and enforces product safety standards, facilitates recalls of unsafe products, and educates consumers and businesses about product hazards and best practices.
“Since its inception, the CPSC has played a vital role safeguarding American families, and in particular infants, children, and older Americans,” the lawmakers wrote Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in a letter about the bipartisan, independent commission. “Thanks to the CPSC’s critical work, residential fires and fire-related deaths have decreased by over 40 percent. Crib deaths and child poisonings have dropped by 80 percent. The Commission’s work continues today, identifying emerging threats and protecting Americans from dangerous and banned imported products.”
“With the rapid growth of e-commerce and imported consumer products, especially from countries with less stringent safety regulations, CPSC plays a critical role to prevent unsafe and counterfeit goods from entering the U.S. market unchecked,” the Senate and House members wrote. “We strongly oppose any attempt to eliminate, defund, or weaken the CPSC and demand that you immediately roll back any efforts to dissolve the agency. Americans rightfully expect that the products they bring into their home are safe, and only the CPSC has the authority and expertise to ensure that expectation is met.”
The letter, led by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Kevin Mullin (D-CA), comes as more than 150 consumer protection and trade groups warned that eliminating the CPSC would undermine product safety and weaken enforcement actions, consumer education campaigns, and data collection initiatives that protect Americans.
In addition to Wyden and Merkley, other senators signing the letter were U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Peter Welch (D-VT), Angus King (I-ME), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Martin Heinrich (D-MN).
Co-signers in the House were U.S. Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Al Green (D-TX), Danny Davis (D-IL), Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL), Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Paul D. Tonko (D-NY), Jonathan L. Jackson (D-IL), Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL), Rick Larson (D-CT), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Lori Trahan (D-MA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rashida Talib (D-MI), Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA), Darren Soto (D-FL), Robin L. Kelly (D-IL), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), André Carson (D-IN), Becca Balint (D-WA), and J. Luis Correa (D-CA).
Full text of the letter is here.
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