boutons_
10-30-2007, 09:24 AM
October 30, 2007
Bigger Budget? No, Responds Safety Agency
By STEPHEN LABATON (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/stephen_labaton/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/consumer_product_safety_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org), has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.
Ms. Nord opposes provisions that 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 laws.
The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels that sometimes reached almost 200 times the safety limit.
Ms. Nord’s opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the Bush administration over the last seven years. In a variety of areas, from antitrust to trucking and worker safety, officials appointed by President Bush have sought to reduce the role of regulation and government in the marketplace.
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said that Ms. Nord had not coordinated her effort to kill the legislation with the White House. But he said that the administration shared many of her concerns and that Allan Hubbard, President Bush’s top economic adviser at the White House, was preparing to send a letter to Congress “that is probably even more forceful than Ms. Nord’s.”
The Senate Commerce Committee is set to vote on Tuesday on the legislation, which is sponsored by Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who heads the committee, and Senator Mark Pryor, the Arkansas Democrat who heads the consumer affairs subcommittee.
It would more than double the agency’s budget, to $141 million, over the next seven years, raise staffing levels by about 20 percent, and give the commission broad new powers to police the marketplace. It would raise the cap on the maximum penalties to $100 million, from $1.8 million.
Ms. Nord, who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/eastman_kodak_company/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce, criticized the measure in letters sent late last week and on Monday afternoon to the Democratic leaders of the committee. She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys, saying it was not practical. She said that the proposal to raise the potential penalty to $100 million “may have the undesired consequence of firms, as a precautionary measure, flooding the agency with virtually every consumer complaint and incident.” Her concern, she said, was that the increase in complaints would so overwhelm the commission that, “true safety issues would go unrecognized in the process.”
She also criticized a provision that would give state prosecutors the authority to enforce the federal consumer safety laws.
Manufacturers had agreed to another provision that would assign independent laboratories to test and certify the safety of products, rather than the agency. But Ms. Nord said she objected to the provision. She preferred that the agency determine the conditions for using independent laboratories.
Some of Ms. Nord’s complaints were similar to the ones that business groups and manufacturers have raised, including that the legislation would be unnecessarily burdensome. But in other areas, like whistle-blower protection, her complaints went beyond those of industry.
While companies generally have not objected to giving protection to whistle-blowers in the industries regulated by the commission, for example, she said it would “dramatically drain the limited resources of the commission, to the direct detriment of public safety.”
While Ms. Nord said she supported the committee’s efforts in general, she issued a more modest proposal than the one under consideration in the Senate. It would, among other things, increase the maximum amount of civil penalties to $10 million, create incentives for companies to halt sales of recalled products quickly, and give the government the authority to seize assets of a company found to have violated criminal safety laws.
Senator Pryor said Ms. Nord’s objections surprised him.
“It’s hard for me to know if it’s just ideological or she is just expressing the wishes of the administration,” Mr. Pryor said. “Either way it comes to the same conclusion, and that is that they say they want more resources, but they are very reluctant to accept those resources.”
Consumer advocates also said they were stunned by the letter.
“It was remarkable to send a letter like that to a committee, when you’re in dire straits and you need increased funding and you’ve acknowledged that,” said Ellen Bloom, director of federal policy at Consumers Union (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/consumers_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
The agency has suffered from a steady decline in its budget and staffing in recent years. Its staff numbers about 420, about half its size in the 1980s. It has only one full-time employee to test toys. And 15 inspectors are assigned to police all imports of consumer products under the agency’s supervision, a marketplace that last year was valued at $614 billion.
Through an agency spokesman, Ms. Nord declined to discuss her opposition to the legislation.
Ms. Nord’s letter was challenged by the Democrat on the commission, Thomas H. Moore. In a letter last week, Mr. Moore told the lawmakers that he generally supported the legislation for being “strongly pro-consumer.”
==============
As I've said many time before, dubya/dickhead/Repugs are more dangerous to US citizens, cause more deaths and sicknesses than any foreign threats.
Self-regulation and self-policing ALWAYS fail, which is exactly why Repugs and corps are for self-regulation and self-policing.
A budget of $141M/year. What's that? One day's costs for Iraq bullshit? http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif
you're doing a heckuva job, dubya
Bigger Budget? No, Responds Safety Agency
By STEPHEN LABATON (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/stephen_labaton/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/consumer_product_safety_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org), has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.
Ms. Nord opposes provisions that 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 laws.
The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels that sometimes reached almost 200 times the safety limit.
Ms. Nord’s opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the Bush administration over the last seven years. In a variety of areas, from antitrust to trucking and worker safety, officials appointed by President Bush have sought to reduce the role of regulation and government in the marketplace.
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said that Ms. Nord had not coordinated her effort to kill the legislation with the White House. But he said that the administration shared many of her concerns and that Allan Hubbard, President Bush’s top economic adviser at the White House, was preparing to send a letter to Congress “that is probably even more forceful than Ms. Nord’s.”
The Senate Commerce Committee is set to vote on Tuesday on the legislation, which is sponsored by Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat who heads the committee, and Senator Mark Pryor, the Arkansas Democrat who heads the consumer affairs subcommittee.
It would more than double the agency’s budget, to $141 million, over the next seven years, raise staffing levels by about 20 percent, and give the commission broad new powers to police the marketplace. It would raise the cap on the maximum penalties to $100 million, from $1.8 million.
Ms. Nord, who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/eastman_kodak_company/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce, criticized the measure in letters sent late last week and on Monday afternoon to the Democratic leaders of the committee. She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys, saying it was not practical. She said that the proposal to raise the potential penalty to $100 million “may have the undesired consequence of firms, as a precautionary measure, flooding the agency with virtually every consumer complaint and incident.” Her concern, she said, was that the increase in complaints would so overwhelm the commission that, “true safety issues would go unrecognized in the process.”
She also criticized a provision that would give state prosecutors the authority to enforce the federal consumer safety laws.
Manufacturers had agreed to another provision that would assign independent laboratories to test and certify the safety of products, rather than the agency. But Ms. Nord said she objected to the provision. She preferred that the agency determine the conditions for using independent laboratories.
Some of Ms. Nord’s complaints were similar to the ones that business groups and manufacturers have raised, including that the legislation would be unnecessarily burdensome. But in other areas, like whistle-blower protection, her complaints went beyond those of industry.
While companies generally have not objected to giving protection to whistle-blowers in the industries regulated by the commission, for example, she said it would “dramatically drain the limited resources of the commission, to the direct detriment of public safety.”
While Ms. Nord said she supported the committee’s efforts in general, she issued a more modest proposal than the one under consideration in the Senate. It would, among other things, increase the maximum amount of civil penalties to $10 million, create incentives for companies to halt sales of recalled products quickly, and give the government the authority to seize assets of a company found to have violated criminal safety laws.
Senator Pryor said Ms. Nord’s objections surprised him.
“It’s hard for me to know if it’s just ideological or she is just expressing the wishes of the administration,” Mr. Pryor said. “Either way it comes to the same conclusion, and that is that they say they want more resources, but they are very reluctant to accept those resources.”
Consumer advocates also said they were stunned by the letter.
“It was remarkable to send a letter like that to a committee, when you’re in dire straits and you need increased funding and you’ve acknowledged that,” said Ellen Bloom, director of federal policy at Consumers Union (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/consumers_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org).
The agency has suffered from a steady decline in its budget and staffing in recent years. Its staff numbers about 420, about half its size in the 1980s. It has only one full-time employee to test toys. And 15 inspectors are assigned to police all imports of consumer products under the agency’s supervision, a marketplace that last year was valued at $614 billion.
Through an agency spokesman, Ms. Nord declined to discuss her opposition to the legislation.
Ms. Nord’s letter was challenged by the Democrat on the commission, Thomas H. Moore. In a letter last week, Mr. Moore told the lawmakers that he generally supported the legislation for being “strongly pro-consumer.”
==============
As I've said many time before, dubya/dickhead/Repugs are more dangerous to US citizens, cause more deaths and sicknesses than any foreign threats.
Self-regulation and self-policing ALWAYS fail, which is exactly why Repugs and corps are for self-regulation and self-policing.
A budget of $141M/year. What's that? One day's costs for Iraq bullshit? http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif
you're doing a heckuva job, dubya