Imports are a booming business in the United States. According to the Interagency Working Group’s Action Plan for Import Safety, released in early November, the number of importers has reached 800,000. Consumer import spending has hit $2 trillion. Despite the growing dependence on imports and a subsequent increase in safety recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)—the government agency charged with investigating claims of consumer safety hazards—has decreased in size, currently employing only one full-time toy tester. In response to the CPSC’s recent performance record, the Senate Committee on Consumer Affairs proposed the CPSC Reform Act of 2007 in October. The Act aims to increase funding for the CPSC, place a higher minimum on the number of full-time CPSC staff, and fortify the authority of the agency.
“As soon as I became chairman of the consumer subcommittee,” said Mark Pryor, Arkansas senator and chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, “I told everybody that I wanted this to be the subcommittee’s number-one priority, to get the CPSC reauthorized and try to do some reform there, and beef it up, and improve [it].”
But CPSC acting chairwoman Nancy Nord is critical of the Act. In an October 24, 2007 letter to Pryor and the Act’s co-sponsor, Senator Daniel Inouye, Nord outlined her position. Her chief concerns are aimed at adding further responsibilities to the CPSC, which she believes would burden an already overburdened agency. Although the Senate panel’s proposal would pad the CPSC with an increased budget and more authority, Nord backs the Bush administration-approved Action Plan for Import Safety, which advises to improve manufacturing and importing communications and technology, and to increase manufacturer penalties, but to a lesser amount than those proposed by the CPSC Reform Act.
“The Action Plan sets out a robust and collaborative process that cuts across agency lines,” Chairwoman Nord stated on November 7, 2007. “It also recognizes the responsibility of the private sector in assuring safety. Implementation of the recommendations in the Action Plan will benefit all consumers.”
Senator Pryor is unsure why Nord criticized the Act proposed by the Senate panel, noting the support of CPSC commissioner Thomas Moore. “Chairwoman Nord has been critical, although she does agree with the overall goal of trying to get the CPSC reauthorized,” Pryor said yesterday by phone. “I think part of [her criticism] is that she feels an obligation to the administration, and the administration has set her budget, and she does not want to exceed the administration’s budget.”
But Pryor went on to say the problems plaguing the CPSC extend beyond Nord’s ties to Bush administration, which appointed her a CPSC commissioner in 2005. “They really are overwhelmed,” he noted. “You see the number of imports dramatically increase over the last few years, but you’ve seen the CPSC’s work force go down, and this agency is just not keeping up with the marketplace. I think there [are] a lot of things at work. I don’t want to blame it on one person or on one personality.”
Whether or not the CPSC Reform Act passes, the CPSC is certain to undergo reform. Pryor’s Act was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and is subject to a vote by the Senate. Another act, sponsored by members of the House, is currently under review.