Political Quotes

“I rise today to oppose the DeMint amendment No. 4124 and explain why the garage door safety provision in the Consumer Product Safety Reform Act is really important. Garage doors inherently pose a risk to families, particularly small children who could be crushed by the doors. The doors often weigh more than 300 to 400 pounds. Many families open and close them a lot of times during the course of a day. The 12 inches between closing the door and the floor, they call it the crush zone. A tremendous amount of force is generated as gravity pulls this 300- or 400-pound door down and it starts to come to the floor of the garage. This crush zone is a real risk for children, particularly small children. Small children live close to the ground--we all know that--and they are always in the crush zone when they are near a garage door. For some time, this has been a serious risk. In the 1970s and 1980s, 67 deaths caused by garage doors were reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and there were even more serious injuries. Most of these were caused by entrapment under the door.”