Janice Schakowsky: “I thank all of the cosponsors of the legislation. Particularly, I want to mention Robin Kelly, who is not able to be…”

“I thank all of the cosponsors of the legislation. Particularly, I want to mention Robin Kelly, who is not able to be here today. I know she wanted to be able to speak to this legislation. But it was brought to our Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee by a really brave mom, and that is Trista Hamsmith, a woman who lost her 18-month-old daughter, Reese, tragically after she ingested a tiny button cell battery. And I am just so proud of not only the subcommittee, but the full committee that unanimously has passed this and brought it now to the floor. But we give a special thanks to Trista Hamsmith, mom of Reese. So, as the chairman mentioned, these batteries are found in many household devices and even toys that are used by children. And it is estimated that once every 3 minutes, a child is treated in an emergency room having swallowed one of these small batteries. These deaths and injuries that continue are absolutely not necessary because voluntary standards for their packaging and to protect children are just not present. And so, Reese's Law would require that the Consumer Product Safety Commission draft mandatory standards for these button cell or coin batteries. And these standards will ensure that the batteries' packaging would have information about what is dangerous; and that they would be child-resistant and would have warning labels on the packages and instructions for parents to protect their children.…”