Thomas E. Petri: “I want to express my outrage that this conference report substantially weakens provisions providing greater consumer…”

“I want to express my outrage that this conference report substantially weakens provisions providing greater consumer protection for victims of unscrupulous movers that were part of the transportation bill that was signed into law less than 4 months ago. Let me first say thank you to Chairman Knollenberg and also to the Speaker. And I want to thank the staff, as well, for the consideration that they have given to the authorizing committees and for providing such strong support for as long as was possible. I appreciate your efforts. But it is simply wrong that this conference report contains provisions that were specifically rejected by the Senate when it was considering its transportation bill earlier this year and that were rejected during the conference on the transportation bill this past summer. For years I have worked to provide relief to the many citizens from all across this country who call my office and other offices around here seeking help because they have been victimized and find they have nowhere to turn. The most egregious of these situations is where a moving company holds all of their earthly possessions until they pay thousands of dollars in excess of the original estimate, basically extortion. These people find themselves in a strange city with no goods and no recourse. The Department of Transportation is simply not suited to police the 1.5 million interstate moves that occur each year.…”