On the recordMay 22, 2018
I rise today regarding the nomination of Dana Baiocco to serve as a Commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or, as we refer to it, the CPSC. It is a small, safety- focused agency. It has about 500 employees, but it has a critically important mission to keep Americans safe from potential defects in thousands of consumer products, many of which are imported from China. We have seen the need to have a strong cop on the beat, and we have seen that many times over the years. For example, back in 2007, we saw what was referred to as a summer of recalls, when a number of children's toys were recalled for high levels of lead and other toxic substances. In response to that summer of recalls in 2007, Congress almost unanimously passed a law, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, to address the safety of toys and other children's products. But there is still a lot more to do. Last summer, another tragedy played out in Florida, involving portable generators. People go and buy these portable generators in anticipation that they are going to lose electricity in their home, as is so often the case with a hurricane. In the wake of Hurricane Irma last year, 12 Floridians died and a number of others were injured by the use of portable generators because carbon monoxide poisoning is emitted from these portable generators.…
