Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is sounding the alarm over consumer protection, saying the Trump administration is dismantling the agency that oversees product safety.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates thousands of consumer items, from toys to power tools, and this week recalled millions of swimming pools it said were connected to child drownings.
At a public panel this week, Sen. Blumenthal said no other agency saves more lives or money.
“Right now, the administration is about to waste both lives and money by essentially dismantling this organization and strangling it with a lack of funding,” he said.
“It has always been underfunded, but the strategy of the administration now seems to be that it will, in effect, decimate an independent and bipartisan commission,” he said. “It's been under attack for months.”
The government has tried to fire the agency’s three Democratic commissioners, although the courts have paused that process.
The panel, co-hosted by Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, included safety experts, former commissioners, and parents whose children died from faulty products, who all said the agency must remain strong.
Brett Horn co-founded the organization, Charlie’s House, after his son died by climbing an unstable dresser in his home.
Horn described himself as a political conservative who believes in limited government.
“I also believe that, with the power to manufacture and the platform to sell, comes a responsibility to provide safe products,” Horn testified. “The unfortunate reality is certain retailers and manufacturers have failed to provide their customers a minimum duty of care by ensuring their products are free from the unreasonable risk of harm, which is why the [Consumer Product Safety Commission] exists.”
Blumenthal said his Republican colleagues refused to hold a formal hearing of the product safety commission so the panel’s testimony won’t go into the congressional record.
