CPSC Reform Act

Floor Speech

CPSC REFORM ACT -- (Senate - March 05, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, let me begin by commending the Senators from Minnesota and New Jersey for bringing forward this amendment. Many of us, I think all of us, were troubled by the press reports last fall that suggested that the current and previous Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission accepted reimbursement from entities that they were regulating when they were traveling. For example, trade associations, manufacturers of products, and other entities paid for trips that totaled nearly $60,000.

The Klobuchar-Menendez amendment is intended to make clear that taxpayer money should be used for that travel in order to remove the appearance of a conflict of interest that arises when the members of the Commission receive reimbursement for travel from regulated entities.

I do want to make clear that the Commission's ethics officers reviewed these trips and found that there was no conflict of interest. But the fact is, there is an appearance of a conflict of interest. Receiving reimbursement from regulated entities creates the appearance that the decisions that are subsequently made by the Commission members may be tainted by a conflict of interest. The fact is, this kind of appearance of a conflict of interest shakes the consumers' confidence in the impartiality of decisions that are made by regulatory agencies.

Now, I do want to emphasize that these trips may well have been justified. Governmental officials cannot and should not make all of their decisions within the confines of their offices. They can learn a lot about the issues by taking official travel, by going out into the field, by reviewing a manufacturer's procedures, by traveling to a port, by undertaking completely legitimate travel. But at least the appearance, and in some cases an actual conflict of interest, arises when this travel is subsidized or paid for totally by the regulated entity. So I view this as a good government amendment, an amendment that will help to restore the confidence of consumers, of the public, in the regulatory process.

I also want to make clear to some of my colleagues, particularly on my side of the aisle, that the amendment put forth by the two Senators does not increase the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission beyond the amounts authorized in the underlying bill. Instead, what their amendment would say is that up to $1.2 million of the budget of the amount appropriated can be used for the Commissioners' travel in lieu of the Commissioners' accepting payment or reimbursement for travel from any person or entity that is seeking official action from, doing business with, conducting activities regulated by, or whose interests may be substantially affected by decisions made by the Commission.

This is a commonsense amendment. It will advance the public's confidence in the decisions that are made by this important regulatory Commission. It is very much in keeping with the bill that we put forth, and I believe we will be able to work out something on this amendment later in the day.

I do want to point out to my friends on the other side of the aisle that there is also an amendment pending by the Senator from Texas, and I believe it is the managers' intent to try to package a series of amendments at the same time. But for my part, I think this amendment makes a great deal of sense, and I commend the two Senators for bringing it forward.

Mr. President, let me also take this opportunity to thank the manager and author of the bill, Senator Pryor, for his thoughtful comments earlier this morning about my contributions to the bill. It has been a great pleasure to work with Senator Pryor on this bill. We have worked together on a host of issues, and I commend him for his leadership in helping to ensure that the toys and other consumer products that reach our store shelves are as safe as they can be. In particular, his commitment to making sure the children of America are receiving safe products is commendable.

So I thank him for his kind words, and it has been an honor to work with him on this bill.

I thank the Chair.

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