Conference Report On H.R.4040, Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act Of 2008

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeGETTE. Madam Speaker, I want to also thank Chairman Dingell for his strong leadership on this issue, and also Ranking Member Barton for his wonderful ability to compromise on the bill.

As the Speaker just told us, last year, it seemed like every day parents were being told that their children's toys were not innocent playthings and, in fact, were very dangerous. This mainly happened during the holiday season, where parents had no idea whether what they were buying to put under the tree would harm or even kill their child.

For a long time now, we have all realized that our consumer product safety system is broken. The CPSC clearly needed more staff, more resources, and more authority. Our consumer protection laws needed to be brought into the 21st century.

This legislation goes a long way to solving those problems. I am so proud to have been one of the House conferees on H.R. 4040. By working diligently with our Senate colleagues and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, we produced a strong, bipartisan bill.

This conference report has a number of provisions which will protect our kids, and I just want to highlight a few of them. It bans lead in children's products beyond trace amounts, the highest standards in the world. It permanently bans three phthalates and temporarily bans three others in toys for kids 12 and under; and, in fact, it extends all of the consumer protections to kids 12 and under because of the issue of shared toy boxes.

It requires independent third-party testing of children's products to ensure that they are safe before they are sold.

It increases the CPSC's budget dramatically, and it stops the export of certain dangerous products.

I want to thank my conference committee colleagues and all of the staff members involved for pulling together such a good bill.

Chairman, or former chairman, Ranking Member Barton was right when he said this is the way legislation should be, a strong collaborative effort that produces real results that will help all of the consumers of America.

I hope, throughout the fall, as we move into the next holiday season, parents can take this issue off their plates as one they have to worry about and, instead they can worry about giving their kids a strong, safe holiday season as we approach the end of this year.

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