Jim Inhofe: “In response to the widely publicized product recalls of last year, the Congress appropriated $80 million for fiscal year…”

“In response to the widely publicized product recalls of last year, the Congress appropriated $80 million for fiscal year 2008 to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which was an increase of 28 percent. The CPSC was instructed to use the additional money to increase staff, workspace, and information technology resources. In December, the House of Representatives passed the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act, H.R. 4040, by an overwhelming vote of 407 to 0. It seems like that would have been a reasonable place to start. In fact, during this debate, a number of us voted in favor of Senator DeMint's amendment to completely substitute the bill we are now considering with the House-passed bill. H.R. 4040 incrementally increases CPSC's budget to $100 million for fiscal year 2011, requires third-party and pre-market testing of many children's product for lead and other hazards, and creates new lead standards for products. However, instead of focusing on product safety, we are now focusing on legislation seeming to simply benefit lawyers.”