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Statement of Congressman John D. Dingell, Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce

 

Dingell on H.R. 4040, The Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act

June 25, 2008

Washington, D.C.Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, today delivered the following statement during the House-Senate Conference on H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act.

I am pleased to be at the first meeting of the House-Senate conferees to resolve differences between the two bodies to modernize the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the important laws that it administers.

As one of the authors of the statute creating the CPSC, I am proud of the work we are doing. It is long overdue.

I recognize this bill would not be where it is today if not for the leadership of our colleague Bobby Rush, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, who brought together Republicans, Democrats, the CPSC, consumer groups, and industry experts to craft this bill more than a year ago. I commend my good friend, Joe Barton, the Ranking Member of the full Committee on Energy and Commerce, for his invaluable contributions to this legislation, as well as each of the House conferees.

H.R. 4040 was strongly approved by the Committee on Energy and Commerce on December 18, 2007, by a vote of 51-0, and by the House of Representatives by a vote of 407-0 the very next day. The Senate amended H.R. 4040 with its comprehensive legislation in March of this year, and we commend their good work.

While proceeding to conference has been a slow process at times, I am pleased by the recent progress made by House and Senate staff negotiators. I look forward to reviewing the pending staff recommendations for the conference report, as well as discussing the remaining open issues. I anticipate the most nettlesome of the latter will be the amendments regarding (1) all terrain vehicles and (2) the phthalates ban.

I look forward to hearing from all to my colleagues on these matters and working with them to craft a viable path forward.

I hope that we are able to give the staff clear instructions on these and other pending matters, and complete the conference report for passage by the House and Senate soon after the Independence Day District Work Period.

The CPSC badly needs the stronger statutory authorities and increased human resources provided by this legislation to meet its mission of protecting the American public, especially our children, from unsafe consumer products. I thank all of the Conferees and their staffs for their hard work toward that end.

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