We are going to hopefully move pretty quickly through Opening Statements because were going to be called to the floor before too long for a long series of votes, and i really want to hear our witnesses. You know, the American People often skeptical of what is dash of what this government do for them, and i am just, i feel so proud and so lucky to be on the subcommittee because the kinds of things were talking about today are about saving lives. Were actually going to make a difference in the lives of every day americans. I appreciate so much our witnesses for being here today. Were going to consider seven bills that a protecting consumers, and yes, saving lives. This subcommittees vice chair, for example, tony cardenas, introduced the safe sleep act of 2019 which would ban inclined sleep products. You know, i wrote to the chairman of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, chairman burkle, and people asking to recall this rock and play which gracefully she did. But there are other inclined sleep products that are at risk some very grateful to congressman cardenas for introducing this important legislation. I want to thank andy custer who has weighed on to the subcommittee today. She and buddy carta a member of this subcommittee has introduced the nicholas and zachary bert Carbon Monoxide poisoning act. Those are two brothers who died, and we want to prevent that and this would establish cp csc Grant Program for states to install Carbon Monoxide detectors in childcare facilities, Senior Citizen centers, and homes for low income families or seniors. Mike thompson and david joyce who, though they dont serve on this committee, have introduced an important bill that will be considering. The portable fuel container safety act, which would direct the Consumer Safety Commission to establish a mandatory standard for plain mitigation devices in portable fuel containers. Doris matsui and Morgan Griffith introduced the safer occupancy furniture flammability act, otherwise known as sofa, which would adopt the california standard for upholding furniture flammability which would, the standard for upholstered furniture flammability. I i have introduced two bills. The first is the sturdy act, which would direct the cpsc to enact a mandatory standard to prevent furniture tip over. Every hour of every day, common pieces of furniture like clothing storage units, dressers and chess tip and tilt and fall, and, unfortunately, according to the cpsc tip overs inflict around three injuries per hour in the United States, and were going to hear words today from crystal, from miss ellis. In 2020 alone over 2 Million Units of childrens products face to recall, and nursery furniture was a leading category. Cpsc rulemaking cannot move fast enough. In the last ten years cpsc finalized only one mandatory safety standard. We certainly need to speed that up. In the meantime we need to pass legislation. To the second bill that ive introduced this week with my friends from chicago, congresswoman robin kelly and congressman bobby rush is the sacred act which would ban the American Academy of pediatrics faith leap recommends that infants sleep on flat, firm surfaces and not, does not recommend the use of crib bumpers. Families need that right now. So im going to recognize our Ranking Member who has introduced an important piece of legislation, the faster act. Im sure shell talk about that and to recognize you for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. Welcome everyone to the Consumer Protection and commerce subcommittee hearing. Today marks our first legislative hearing and we had to discuss important issues for peoples people safety. I want to thank chair schakowsky for her leadership to keep the lights of communication open. We talked a lot about the importance of bipartisan work which was, which is why i was surprised by the majorities action leading up to the hearing regarding. Regarding my belt it was my interesting to speed up the fast track recall process that would be considered as a draft, discussion draft as we continue our negotiations. However, this week our staff was informed that they will not consider staff address legislative hearings so i was a bit bewildered when yesterday the h. E. L. P. Subcommittee just did that with the no surprise act. As a member scan appreciate can find out hours before deadline the bill needs to be introduced does that give us the time to incorporate the feedback, bipartisan cosponsors doing in of the proper work required to introduce a bill. All of that said i did quickly introduce my bill before todays hearing and im committed to finding a bipartisan consensus to improve it. Im glad the majority and im grateful that the majority is including it today for consideration. A bipartisan approach moving forward that only gives our solutions their best chance to become law but also gives the public the best chance of seeing results that keep them safe. The cp the mission is to protect people against risk of injury and death associate with Consumer Products. While we cannot protect everyone from every harm, its our jobs to address substantial hazards. Without creating too many opportunities for dangerous workarounds. For example, one of the bills today deals with crib bumpers and is critical to examine what states a dent in the space. We dont create the risk of pairs putting blankets or pillows which pose a suffocating danger back in the crib because they cant access safe mesh bumpers. Earlier this cog is this subcommittee an oversight hearing with acting chair burkle and the commissioners of the cpsc. Chair burkle is steadfast in her efforts to advance the Safety Mission of the agency and once again i urge my Senate Colleagues to confirm her. The cpsc, the small in size, is a proctor stitch and over thousand products that are used every day in our homes, schools, businesses big recently we had concerned with the slow speed of existing Fast Track Recall Program. In some cases recalls are taking several months. In fact, mr. Samuels highlights examples in his testimony that prove what we should speed things up. Examples like a twoweek approval process for recall press releases, debating the exact phrases on social media posts or requiring numbers which may make sense in the 90s when asked track was created but not anymore. The Fast Track Recall Program is intended to protect people by Encouraging Companies to come forward with dangerous products so they can work with an agency. Like many things in washington, d. C. , fasttrack is now slow because of an out outdid bureaucracy. The programs in 1995 that is important today. Some companies have bypassed the completely leaving the cpsc out of the process. Its time for an update. Its important to maintain the connections between the pc sc and good actors in industry. Especially when it means removing hazardous products from our homes to keep our kids out of harms way. Thats life introduce the focusing attention on safety transparency and effective recall, or the faster act, h. R. 3169. My solution will make fasttrack work into Pfeiffer Center by giving consumers notice more quickly when a Company Submits a specific recall plan by learning from the company an issue recall processes at nhtsa and fda. No more press release delays, no more hangups over tollfree numbers. For parents who endangers baby cribs and rockers, for households with appliances that are a fire risk, for our children with toys that are choking hazard, these bureaucratic delays cannot happen. The faster act will get these products out of our homes and off the shelves as quick as possible and will stick it to e commission the flexibility it needs to ensure a company remedy is right and if necessary to initiate its own recall. Make sure when something goes wrong theres a process in place for that recall to happen, and hope we can work in a boppers away to find a solution. Theres many other important issues such as the portable fuel container safety standard to guide the chance to sit down with miss alice and the issue of the tipovers. I appreciate everyone being here today and all of the witness and of the fortitude testimony and working to all of these issues. The gentlelady yields back. The chair recognizes mr. Mr. Pallone, chairman of the fall subcommittee for five minutes for his opening statement. Thank u madam chair. Two months ago the subcommittee discussed whether the Consumer Product Safety Commission is the filling its mission of protecting consumers. When cpsc is that its best its working proactively eliminate hazards and adopt strong safety stands standard as word from our witnesses and even some commissioners cpsc has not been at its best lately. To put it simply were here today to discuss important Consumer Protection legislation that is necessary because cpsc has not done its job. Cpsc has led industries set its own rules and results have been predictably disastrous. Mr. Price, designed and sold the rock and play sleeper or products is intended use went against the advice of pediatricians to receive an exemption from cpsc is mandatory Safety Standards and helped write the voluntary standard that it followed instead. A decade later issue price admitted it was aware of the lease 32 infants who had died in the product and agree to recall all or. 7 million rock and play sleepers, summer product from kids two was recalled after i guess reported cpsc new about the dangers and this is as well before the recall but didnt take action reviews recalls when yesterday after this the subcome scheduled oversight hearing of the cpsc and after cpsc and overtly provided Consumer Reports with details of the incident infant deaths, which at a previously refused to disclose. It should not take a congressional hearing or an accident disclosure of information to get deadly products off the shelf. This is cpsc is job and should be their top priority. We also are today because even when cpsc wants to act, its process for issuing standards is so tedious that years and years ago by before any standards are in place. Kids and consumer simply cannot afford to wait that long. Bipartisan majority of the commission agrees and mentor stand for furniture tip over is necessary to getting able to place with eight years due to cpscs conflicts rulemaking procedure. Nearly every suitable cpsc is issued over the last eight decades for other products used to streamline process that congress authorized and the bipartisan consumer protect Safety Improvement act. Today were considering bills that would direct cpsc to follow a similar process to address hazards from furniture tip over and portable fuel containers. Product safety is not a partisan issue and im pleased to see a number of these bills are supported by both democrats and republicans. Passing this bill will get safety stand in place faster and save lives. I look forward to working with my colleagues to quickly move them forward. But congress should not pass a law telling cpsc to address every dangerous products thats on the market. If cpscs authority doesnt allow it to respond quickly and completely to new hazards, we should consider revising that authority. I had a couple minutes left. Id like to yield one to mr. Cardenas and the second one to represent it custis will start yielding to mr. Cardenas for one minute. He said. Thank you, madam chairman like to thank chairwoman schakowsky bring this important hearing to order. This week i introduced h. R. 3172, the safe sleep for babies act which bans civil and consciously product such as the fisherprice rock n play. I introduced this bill because babies have been dying unnecessarily since 2009. They have been dying because companies decide making money was more important than putting infants life in danger. And because the regular Agency Charged with protecting americans decided to be puppets for industry and stood by it more precious life for loss, was the Consumer Product Safety Commission waiting for a higher body count before deciding to take action . I dont know. Theres plenty of blame to go around but on one major failing i see a set of the cpsc pic and even with two recently calls these products made by other companies are Still Available on the market. As a grandparent its appalling. I think we should be putting childrens lives before profits. We have a lot of work to do and with a limited time i would just like to say that you very much mr. Chairman, and i yield back. I yield now to ms. Kuster. Thank you, chairman vallone and chairwoman schakowsky for continued this important hearing today. As a mother of two was i know theres nothing important in keeping our children and loved ones safe. From a young age we tell children to be careful crossing the street to always wear seatbelts and handle sharp objects with care. Yet there some threats that our loved ones cannot see. One of the most dangerous is Carbon Monoxide which is the leading cause of accidental poisoning gas in the United States. So i appreciate todays hearing discussing my bill h. R. 1618, the second Nicholas Burr Carbon Monoxide Poison Prevention act which editors with my republican colleagues buddy carter. This legislation incentivizes states to pass laws requiring Carbon Monoxide alarms at schools, homes and commercial lodging and treats a a Grant Program to install Carbon Monoxide in the income and elderly housing. It will save lives and to that end i seek unanimous consent to enter into the record letters of support for the Carbon Monoxide prevention act on the Security Industry association and safe kids were white. I back my time. Without objection, we will put that information into the record. Thank you, madam chair. Now i would like to recognize acting, Ranking Member mr. Walden for his opening statement. Thank you, madam chair. I want to say good morning to you and i do it on the committee and to our witnesses today. We appreciate we will benefit from your testimony. As we discussed these bills and the first legislative hearing of the year for this hearing is important for a couple of reasons. First, i think the opportunity discussed bills under consideration and the policies to improve the safety of products and keep kids and consumer safe. This is a gold all share pics i can come to opportunity to doctor berkeley to the public about the risks and how they can make sure they are taking steps to protect themselves and their families. I am grateful representative rogers is introduce your bill, happy, because as well here today fasttrack recall program are good actors who want to get information to customers faster has slowed down in recent years and we should, we really do need to find a a solution at a thine can and will. I understand theres a lot of bipartisan support for this proposal and i look for to hearing our witnesses about it. In april we are directly from the cpsc commissioners and a number of interested parties about ongoing products at the agency as well as ways in which we can improve some of the agency processes. Weve heard from many stakeholders about concerns in existing fasttrack recall program at the agency. It exists as a type of the same suggest to keep kids and consumer safe. Thats the goal. By removing potentially hazardous products as quick and as efficiently as possible, and it does not apply to just one or two products. It applies to all 15,000 product categories in the cpscs jurisdiction. As i mentioned earlier the Fasttrack Program was slowed greatly for unnecessary bells of bureaucracy. Do not add substantially to the benefit of consumers, and further delay for weeks if not months when consumers are told about potentially dangerous products. If a company with the recalled product shouldnt we be encouraging them to work with the cpsc cannot go around the agency . I think the answer is clearly yes. This is what i appreciate the work of ms. Rodgers, that shes put in the faster act to solicit comments and ideas on how to improve this previous he awardwinning recall program. This will create a process that removes the unnecessary break for dan recalls the day it mirrors programs that are already working at the fda and at nhtsa pic as indicated earlier we are committed to working on the bill with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I think we can find a bipartisan solution to this critical issue. I want to applaud ms. Rodgers for her thoughtful approach and for helping advance safety. I urge my colleagues to support h. R. 3169 as we move forward. One last point i like to make is to take this opportunity to reiterate my strong support for acting chair buerkle to be confirmed by the senate as chair for her new term at the cpsc. She is well positioned to lead this Critical Agency and the steamer suited her commitment to protect consumers throughout her career of public service. I hopeful our Senate Colleagues who im sure our dial into our hearing today and hanging on every one of our words will act so we can get a chair there and confirmed. With that thanks for your leadership on all of these Consumer Product safety issues over the years. I know its a great passion of yours and you save the lives as a result of your work and we want to be partners moving forward. With that unless anyone else wants to have my kind i would be happy to yield back. Rank the jump in for your kind words of the gentleman yields back. I do like like to invite all members that according to committee was all members written Opening Statements shall be made on the record. Now its my honor to introduce the witnesses today, starting right to live. Let me introduce mr. Will wallace, the manager come home and products policy from Consumer Reports. Ms. Crystal ellis, Founding Member of parents against tipovers. I especially want to thank you for being here today. It would have been your sons seventh birthday i understand today. I want to thank mr. Chris parsons, president of the minnesota professional Fire Fighters association. We thank you so much for traveling here. Mr. Charles samuels who is a member of mintz law firm. Thank you for being here. And we absolutely look forward to the testimony. At this time that chair will now recognize each of the witnesses for five minutes to provide their Opening Statements. Before we begin i i just want o make sure i explain the lighting system. Most of you probably understand, that in front of you are a series of lights. The light will initially be green at the start of your opening statement. The light will turn yellow when you have one minute remaining. Please begin to wrap up your testimony at that point. The light will turn red when your time has expired. Particularly because of the vote said, i hope youll abide by that. And again if you dont mind im going to start right to left. Mr. Wallace, you are recognized for five minutes. Good morning, chairwoman schakowsky, Ranking Member rodgers, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here on behalf of Consumer Reports. The independent nonprofit Member Organization that works sidebyside with consumers for truth transparency and fairness. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a Critical Agency with an indispensable Public Health and Safety Mission. It plays a significant role in protecting u. S. Consumers despite lacking the appropriations, staff and authorities it would need to carry out all that it is capable of doing. We are here today because the cpsc and many manufacturers have failed to protect our children and families. They failed to yield campton ellis. Twoyearold of lakeland florida and in total at least 206 children since the year 2000. Who died under the weight of a dresser or other building storage furniture. Despite manufactured being able to build a more stable dresser at the same price point. As we documented in detail in a written testimony, tip over ari hidden hazard. They sent thousands to the emergency room annually. Yet people often do not know the danger and dresses are particularly deadly. Safety Research Testing reporting in a survey of consumers has sound Industries Current volunteers to build a inadequate to protect children a far stronger mandatory standard is both feasible and necessary. The cpsc and industry failed i withhold ezra overton and a total at least 37 infants who died in inclined sleepers like the fisherprice rocket play. Marketed as a safe solution for weary parents. Thats a product that never should have been on the market. But was because of an industry driven our vet from the cpsc strong bassinet standard. The entire idea of an incline sleeper conflicts with American Academy of pediatrics safe sleep recommendation. The product category should be eliminated. While we welcome the recall this spring that have occurred, these particular recalls are not likely to be especially effective. At actually getting the products out of homes. The cpsc steps to protect infants has repeatedly fallen short. Only an erroneous data release about which we published publis revealing these of deaths allow the public to know the breadth and severity of the nature. For too long the government and manufacturers have failed the victims of crib bumpers, fires involving portable fuel content, Carbon Monoxide poisoning of those injured or killed by other kinds of Consumer Products. We need a cpsc that puts the safety of the American Public first. And decided and empowered to do so. We need consumerproducts companies with strong safety cultures that know that if they step out of line they will have to face an active and empowered agency. Right now we dont have either. Thats what its important for you to take the opportunity you have before you to support the sturdy safe sleep safe crits portable fuel container safety and Carbon Monoxide poisoning prevention act which was at least show that you put the safety of American Children and families first. You also can reject the faster act in its current form which would further disempower the cpsc and give recall the companies more control over life and death decisions regarding recall implementation period as members continue to work on that legislation, in particular we wh those who have significant experience from the consumer advocacy and consumer safety side with respect to the recall implementation at the fda and the nhtsa. There are significant concerns with how that works. Over the longer term you have the opportunity to reshape the cpsc to eliminate provisions like section six be which could easily have kept many of the inclined sleepers deaths hidden if not for the cpscs data release that occurred in air. Error. And require much more proactive action to put safety first. Finally while not on the agenda for today we urge you to support efforts to strengthen the appropriations and staff the cpsc receives. There are children and families, your constituents about enough of this failure. Every one of them, all americans in fact, deserve so much more than they are getting today when it comes to the safety of their homes and the products they buy. We look forward to working with you to protect them. Thank you for your testimony. Now i introduce miss alice. You are recognized for five minutes. Hello, my name is crystal ellis. I am an elementary educator, mom, child safety advocate, representing parents against tipovers, and or decision of families like mine whove lost a child to furniture tip over. I want to begin by saying thank you to each and everyone of you for limey the opportunity to speak today. Today is a a very difficult day for me. Today would be my son, campton ellis, seventh birthday. Tragically, he was killed five years ago on fathers day any furniture tip over incident. His three drawer just 30 and threequarter inch tall dress of the isa try to reach inside to get his close, trapping his neck between the drawers and suffocating him. He was unable to cry for help, and we did not hear it fall. His father found him when he went to get him up for breakfast. I can still hear my husbands screens. After trying my best to revive him with cpr, and four needs in a a coma at seattle childrens, we had to say goodbye, donating his organs to hopefully save another family from our fate. At the time, i thought this was a freak accident and i had no idea that this was a danger in my home. When i discovered that he was not only the step child to die because of the negligence of this particular manufacturer, without a recall, but the children were dying at the rate of one every ten days from furniture tipovers, i was absolutely devastated. How was this possible . Ive taken multiple gating ready for baby classes and child proofed my home. Of the professional educators, healthcare providers, mom Group Leaders or printed ever told me about the risk of dresser tipovers killing my child. I know there are many of the parents in this country also have no idea that the address is a risk. They assume as i did that any product that is sold in the United States of america has been vetted and tested by their government and would not be sold if they could kill us. One death every ten days is a crisis that needs to be immediately address. Its already been five years since the death of my son campton, over 14 years since the death of camera models daughter, megan that, the early step a group, and not enough has been done to keep children safe today. I prefer mandatory standard that takes into account realworld use by a child with dynamic testing would have stayed my son. We need the sturdy act for many reasons. The first is the lack of progress in which with manufactures to get them to do the right thing. Consumer advocates and parents have been trying almost two decades to strengthen the standard. Manufactures know how to solve this problem right now by engineering the tipovers right out of the design. Members can can can meetings and task roots ready to dive into improving the standard, by multiple accounts and measures, this is one of the most contentious subcommittees, f15. 42, overseen by astm. They have stalled for years on addressing this issue. They keep saying we need more data. Their data is our dead and injured children. We do not need more data. Even with the devastating statistics we already have, we also know the dad is underreported the most consumers do not know who the cpsc is or the importance of recording incidents of faulty products to them. Every dresser that falls at the rate of one er visit every 17 minutes has the potential to be a death or life altering injury. Even with the chairman of the cpsc strong urging these manufactures to stop stalled in taking the action to increase the standard, there were still dozens of negative votes at the last ballot. Some manufacturer members of the astm subcommittee have argued we should make the current voluntary standard mandatory but we know the kurdistan is not enough to prove that this exists in the ikea dress which currently meets punk or tip over standards that was responsible for the death of a twoyearold in florida and was seen in a viral video falling on twoyearold Twin Brothers in utah, both in 2017. We are concerned the creation of the mandatory standard from the current voluntary standard will make it much more difficult to make the standard Strong Enough to protect consumers. Second, the cpsc even though theyve expressed that tipovers are the number one highest priority this year, are still not using every tool available to them, including section 104 4 rulemaking and recalling every dresser that does not meet the current week voluntary standard also from participating in astm meeting i still feel the manufactures are not afraid of repercussion from the cpsc. Between the small budget and there has been tied by the limitations of section 6b other Consumer Product safety, manufactures know that time to start the kind of result in more deaths of children. Today parents against tipovers is sure to be a voice for our children who lost theirs, a voice her were held today acting as fulltime caregivers for their children who survived the tip over incident but even left with life altering injuries. A voice for gentoo cannot find theirs because theyre overwhelmed by the darkness of grief and sadness that we all fall experience. Id like to make it clear furniture tip over is not a partisan issue. I assure you furniture falls on both republican and democratic children equally. Unstable furniture does not discriminate. Thank you again for limey to speak today and i hope youll join in protecting children and families in this country by supporting the sturdy act. Thank you, miss alice. I think youre an american hero. I appreciate your testimony. And now im happy to introduce mr. Parsons. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you, chairman schakowsky, Ranking Member rodgers, and members of the subcommittee. I am chris parsons, president of the minnesota professional Fire Fighters work i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you all you of the International Association of firefighters, general president harold sheet burger at the over 316,000 firefighters and Emergency Personnel who comprise our union. I service captain with the st. Paul, minnesota, five department and dissing first in the unfortunate results of flax consumer safety laws and enforcement in my community. An action on this issue impacts our first guy to fight today to the fact the federal government cant and should do more to help prevent tragedies in the loss of health and life, and offer my full support for silver, the portable fuel interested act as a necklace and sack referred Carbon Monoxide poisoning prevention act. In 2018, firefighters and paramedics responded to nearly 1. 5 million working fires, with each response firefighters were exposed to large amounts of flame retardants. Once thought to provide a measure of protection, flame retardants were placed on furniture to meet an updated 44yearold federal standard unfortunately proved to be toxic when on fire. According to numerous scientific studies, firefighters are dying from cancer at an alarming rate. Studies have found firefighters have increased risk of dying from cancer as compared to the general population. We know when burned, flame retardants met cancer causing dioxin view. Us that he a 500 but after after working for seven levels and dioxins more than 100 times higher than the public. We also know that flame retardants are not only toxic but also ineffective. When study concluded that fires involving furniture treated with flame retardants only provided three extra seconds of escape time while producing twice the amount of smoke, seven times the amount of Carbon Monoxide, and 80 times the amount of soot compared to nontreated furniture. The toxic soup inhibits occupants escaped from a burning building adding further risk of injury and death. Given their toxicity and suspect about it, we see reason to continue the use of toxic flame retardants. We are pleased to endorse sofa to make california technical goal 1172013 a national standard. Replacing an updated open flame test which led the to the use f toxic flame retardants of furniture with a more modern, realistic smolder test. The 2013 california standard reduced the presence of flame retardants, lessening the harmful impact severed by firefighters exposed to such chemicals. Portable fuel container safety act, would direct the installation of flame arresters in all containers, manufactured to hold flammable liquids. Finally the iff is pleased to support the memorial Carbon Monoxide poisoning prevention act. Each year Carbon Monoxide poisoning results in 400 deaths nationwide. In 95, Minnesotans Nicholas and Zachary Burke died in their beds as a result of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Like the firefighters who responded to the burks tragic incident, i have witnessed the deadly effects of Carbon Monoxide firsthand when responding to a st. Paul Senior Citizen who had passed away from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Fatalities like these are avoidable with the installation of an inexpensive working Carbon Monoxide detector in the home. Despite the clear dangers of Carbon Monoxide, many people remain unaware of the need for Carbon Monoxide detectors. This bill aims to change that. It will assist states in delivering Public Education on the dangers of Carbon Monoxide poisoning while simultaneously providing grants to purchase and install detectors in the homes of elderly, low income citizens, and schools. In conclusion, i and the International Association of firefighters express our support for these three important Public Safety bills, and im happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you. I think of First Responders that we think all firefighters are heroes as well. Thank you. Mr. Samuels, you are recognized for five minutes. Chair, Ranking Member, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify about the cpsc fast track recalled program. Im chuck samuels. Ive practiced cpsc law for 35 years. The work of this small agency is critical to the safety of americans. The vast majority of industry rightfully considers product safety a preeminent value. Companies design and build products to be safe. Sometimes their efforts fail, and recalls are required. Thank you, representative rogers, for introducing hr 3169, the faster act, a thoughtful start to improving fast track. Fast track incentivizes companies to quickly remove unsafe products from the marketplace and consumers homes. Fast track is a significant innovation. Unfortunately, it should not be allowed to languish. It should be revitalized. To participate in fast track, a business must be prepared to implement a corrective action plan, including the consumer level recall within 20 working days of submitting a fast track report. The firm Must Immediately stop sale and distribution of the product. About 1 3 of corrective actions have been fast tracks. The program also provides benefits to firms, by removing the product from commerce quickly, the potential for injuries and Product Liability claims is reduced, and cpsc will not make a preliminary determination that the product contains a defect that creates a substantial hazard. A fast track corrective action plan includes a remedy, a joint news release with cpsc, other customer level communications, communications through the distribution chain and a reverse logistics plan. This is a significant amount of work and requires major planning by the company and others. It also requires and heres the hangup timely review and approval by the cpsc. If that review is not forthcoming, then all components of a corrective action plan languish and the fast track is no longer fast. What i have seen over the years is the process flows down slows down considerably because of prolonged examination and back and forth, both internal and between staff and firms, regarding the components of the recall and especially the press release or other communication. This emphasizes one size fits all over the need for quickly getting Safety Information to consumers. Because fast track is no longer fast, some companies are bypassing it and opting for the conventional approach of cpsc, working with or announcing the recall of their own without cpsc. This situation is not the fault of any particular cpsc administration or staff, but rather the natural bureaucracy of a program and agencys concern it not be criticized. I have seen delays of Additional Information request and nonsubstantive back and forth about press releases. Whether its internal sign off requirements, this could take weeks. Ive experienced delays due to Additional Information request and customer notification letter revisions which were not substantive. None of these minor things are work to lengthy delays. The faster act speeds up things. If a Company Provides the required information, then the Commission Shall promptly post the notice on the commissions website. The bill has safeguards. If the Commission Obtains information that the remedy provided in a recall is inadequate to address the product hazard, it will investigate. This would be very rare because companies have an interest in ensuring the success of their recalls. This legislation is informed by recalls under fda. They do not micro manage recalls and their approach is successful. We must make sure that the bill language doesnt result in the premature public posting of information about a recall before the company is ready to launch. It is frustrating and creates anxiety among consumers to learn about a recall and then have to wait for lengthy periods before they can receive appropriate relief. We also need to make sure that were not providing the commission such great discretion that companies will fear they will have to undertake multiple recalls. This would freeze the program. The thrust of the faster act is that the necessary information can get out to consumers quickly and consumers can act as part of the recall or on their own to protect themselves and their families. If the company has proposed a remedy that is unsafe, then of course the Commission Must have the authority to protect the public. I hope the subcommittee will use this bill as a basis for engagement with all the stake holders including the cpsc. Undoubtedly alternative language will be offered which we will need to consider. Thank you, and id be very pleased to answer any questions. Thank you very much, mr. Samuels. Thank you for being within the time too. Appreciate that. We have now concluded the witness Opening Statements. For our first panel, we now move to member questions. Each member will have five minutes to ask questions of our witnesses. I will start by asking some questions. Ms. Ellis, again, i just cant thank you enough. It takes great courage for you to be here. What i wanted to have you elaborate on is why cant we just rely on voluntary standards that are being developed . Two parts, both the standard itself . And also the voluntary part of that . Would love your comments. Thank you. So to address the issue of voluntary standard, first and foremost, the voluntary standard that we have currently is still allowing children to be injured and to die. Connor delong is an example and the twins in utah are another example. Im is a grateful that they are okay im so grateful that they are okay, but it shows that the standard is not okay. Secondly, voluntary standard to be honest isnt even wanted by industry. The complaint industry folks want a mandatory standard so that other people other industry members will be held accountable and held to the same standard. So its something that we do agree on, which is a mandatory standard. We just need to make it tougher than the current voluntary standard. Thank you. I know you now have a group. How big is the group of parents that have lost children . Well, our Founding Membership started with nine parents. However, we are growing and we continue to grow. There are so many parents that we represent the voice of that may never be in a place to advocate, that are too broken by this tragedy to use their voice. Let me ask you this. Have you heard from any of these people, both the members of your group and people youve talked to that there was any hint whatsoever that this was a dangerous product . No one knew. No one knew. And it didnt matter what the price point of their dresser was. We had very expensive dressers kill children. We have had cheap dressers kill children. Its across all demographics, and no one knew. No one knew. Mr. Wallace, Consumer Reports has done a lot of testing on furniture to learn more about how to prevent tipovers. Can consumers tell if the dresser will tip over by looking at it or even manipulating it in some way . No. Consumer reports investigation found that theres no easy way for consumers to tell whether a dresser is more or less likely to tip over, just by looking at it. This week i introduced the safe cribs act, which would ban crib bumpers. Crib bumpers pads have been banned in chicago, since 2011, and for good reason, crib bumpers are inconsistent with the Safety Standards that have been talked about by the professionals, by the doctors, who for years have recommended that babies sleep in baby cribs free of clutter. The City Council Approved the ordinance in response to news, investigatory news stories that found federal regulators received reports of babies suffocating for years, but failed to do anything about it. Again, mr. Wallace, what are your thoughts on banning crib bumpers . It should happen. I mean, crib bumpers are not they contribute to an unsafe sleep environment. The American Academy of pediatrics is clear in its thorough policy statement developed over the course of years, looking at the medical evidence, that a baby should sleep on its back in its own space on a flat surface, firm and flat surface, that has nothing else in there. No added bedding and the baby in its own space. Theres why it is critically important not to have these products out on the market because theres we suspect theres a lot of confusion out there. Right now parents may even think that these are necessary for the safety of their babies. But thats not the case anymore. There used to be under the old crib standard the gaps between the slats were quite wide. Today products manufactured to the new standard, its narrow. And a babys head can no longer get entrapped between the slats as a result. Therefore these products not only create a danger to children, but they are also unnecessary from a safety perspective. Weve done a lot with cribs. Theres no longer i remember with my kids the dropside cribs. And it seems that we need to go a step further here. I appreciate all of our witnesses, and now i would like to recognize our Ranking Member, ms. Rogers for five minutes. Thank you, madame chair. I want to say thanks for holding this hearing today so that we can learn and dig into these issues, more deeply. As most of you know, i am an older mom. I have three Young Children now. They are 12, 8 and 5. I remember brian had some friends who had lost a toddler when a bookshelf fell over on him. And brian has been paranoid about the tipover furniture in our household. Being a parent is the best thing thats happened and also the hardest thing that has happened. And i too want to just say thank you especially to the parents for the courage and the advocacy taking what is unimaginable grief and becoming advocates so that all of us across this country can learn and then take action to make sure were doing Everything Possible to protect others. I want to thank you, crystal. I want to say thank you to margaret that i see in the audience and others that are advocating so that we can figure out how to get this right. Captain parsons, i want to say thank you for your service in highlighting so many issues important to firefighters and also as we try to protect people from the danger of fire. Mr. Wallace, on my legislation, on the faster act, i would just encourage you to let me know what you think needs to happen so we can make the Fast Track Recall Program actually work. Thats the goal of the legislation. My goal is to make it bipartisan so that we can actually get it done. Mr. Samuels, you know, your testimony certainly highlighted some around the fast call recall program, and since thats the bill im advocating for this morning, i just wanted you to take some time and highlight some of the examples on how the process has slowed and whats caused the delays. Thank you very much. Where you have a situation where the Company Recognizes that there must be a recall, then you want to get out to the public as soon as possible when you are ready to announce the recall. Thats the whole genius of the Fast Track Program which was developed by career employees at the cpsc, 20 some years ago. It was recognized actually by Vice President gore, with an innovation award. But over time, what has happened is as with many things in a Regulatory Environment and bureaucracy, theyve fallen into patterns. The programs become ossified. They want to have the same press release and want everybody to follow the same path for a recall. Wording changes in press releases, changes in the communications the consumers or distributors or retailers, theyve got certain formats. They insist on it. Sometimes they ask questions or try and impose requirements when youre really should be getting out to the public in announcing this recall. So thats what the problem is. And your bill is a great starting point for a discussion about what we can do so that we can when companies are ready make these announcements as soon as possible. So to be clear, the cpsc has other avenues under current law to investigate companies and conduct recalls. Right . Absolutely. Right. This bill would not impact those authorities. Not at all. The basic requirements for filing under section 15 of the Consumer Product safety act is untouched. Most recalls probably will continue under the conventional process, and if a company uses the fast track, even now, but certainly under your bill, and their remedy is inadequate, they dont do a good job in repairing the product or replacing it with a safe product, or they dont accurately describe the products that need to be recalled, then cpsc has the authority now and would have the authority under your bill to require possibly a second recall. Okay. Thank you very much. I yield back. I now recognize congresswoman from rochester for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you, madame chairwoman. Thank you very much to the panel. A special note of thanks to the parents and especially ms. Ellis. Before coming in, we had the opportunity to talk, and i just want to say that on the 7th birthday of camden, theres no better way to honor him than standing up for families and children across our country. So i just want to say thank you for that, and on behalf of camden, happy birthday. When i thought about this issue, and listening even to my colleagues, you hear the conversation about Carbon Monoxide poisoning. In delaware we had an actual father who experienced this with his son in a motel. A very famous person actually. He was able to advocate and get help on the state level to get legislation. When we talk about sudden infant death syndrome, i remember as a parent my children are 30 and 33, but at that time, we made bumpers for our baby cribs. We did things that we thought were the right thing to do. I also thought about the tipping over. The same thing, and ms. Ellis, you actually made a comment, and it wasnt in my script to ask this question, but you made a comment that most many people dont even know what cpsc is, so they dont even know to go and get help or to find out if theres something that they need to be protected from. My question is to you and to the panel, can you speak to the lack of knowledge about cpsc and the implications and then any recommendations that you would have . So maybe we could start with mr. Wallace and go down . Sure. I will just very briefly say that when it comes to the tip overs issue, one of the most important steps that anybody can take in their homes is they have a large piece of furniture, like a dresser, is to anchor it to the wall. But at the same time, we found through a survey of consumers, nationally representative survey that it is not an easy fix for most consumers. And many of them hadnt even heard of it. So thats an example. Right, right, thank you. I will speak to the fact that not only did i not know what the cpsc was, i just assumed government protected me. I didnt know what specific agency. I just figured my government protected me. And then after camden died, i spoke to cassie about there are a lot of Government Agencies coming in asking you what you did wrong, whats going on. You have police. You have the hospital administrators, and im a lawabiding citizen, but i was terrified that my other child was going to be taken away in the interim until they could figure it out. Then the cpsc sends me a letter saying we want to know all about your accident. Give me all the details. And i went no thanks because its just not i dont know what your purpose is. I have never heard of you, and why would i want to tell one more Government Agency the most terrifying day of my life . Thank you. Captain . Chairwoman, congresswoman rochester, before i got involved in my work in phasing out flame retardants in minnesota. I had very little knowledge of cpsc and the work that its done. Its extremely important work. We all lead busy lives, and were not always able to, you know, to digest all of the information that is out there on products, but i remember as a child growing up in the 80s, when the big Smoking Initiative were occurring, through the surgeon general, we cut down on smoking. Smoking among children. Smoking around children. Perhaps we need another initiative along that lines because Consumer Protection is critical for the general public. Thank you. Mr. Samuels, i have about 40 seconds. Well, let me just say that this agency is significantly underresourced. Thats the fault of the congress. It doesnt have the capabilities to do the communications and education that it should. Its budget is vastly smaller than the fdas, and it really needs the support of congress. Thank you very much. I will submit my other questions for the record. But i want to thank you all for being here, and thank you for the leadership from the chairwoman and ms. Rogers. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to tell everyone thats listening now, recall. Gov im sorry . Recalls. Gov will connect you to a list of those products that have been recalled, and safer products. Gov is a place to go where you can report if there are products that youve experienced as being unsafe. I just wanted to say that and recognize mr. Latta for five minutes. Thank you, madame chair for todays hearing and thanks to our witnesses for being with us today. Ms. Ellis, thank you very much for your testimony. If i can ask start my question with you, mr. Wallace. While newer crib standards have narrowed the distance between slabs preventing head entrapment, i continue to be concerned about limb entrapment for children. More mesh crib lines instead of the liners instead of the padded bumpers. Several studies of the mesh showing no incidents involved in the risk of suffocation. In the state of ohio and other states, lawmakers have recognized this data and excluded mesh crib liners from legislation that ban crib bumpers. If mesh crib liners are also banned along with padded crib bumpers, my fear is that parents are going to start taking matters in their own hands and come up with improvised solutions to prevent that limb entrapment. In your written testimony, you state these products dont serve any safety purpose. Did you consider the mesh crib liners when you made your determination . Im sorry, i couldnt hear the very end did you consider the mesh crib liners when you made your determination . Padded crib bumpers we know are linked to suffocation, strangulation, entrapment. Mesh crib liners, theres just not a lot of data. They are pretty new products. I think the ohio law was wise in recognizing that the question needed to be revisited after aperiod of time. After a period of time. Right now it is carved out from the ohio law, mesh liners, but the law charges everybody to come back after i believe two years and revisit the state of the evidence. But have you conducted any tests or anything like that, Consumer Reports on those . We have not tested mesh liners or crib bumpers. That are padded. Are you intending that in the near future . We dont currently have plans. We dont think that they are consistent with a safe sleep environment. We think that a bare crib is best and that we want to make sure not to confuse anybody about that or send any mixed messages because its critical to get that message out, as we have since the 80s, that bare is best. A bare crib, bassinet and play yard is best and it is critical not to put anything extra in there, in the infant sleep environment. Thank you. Captain, thank you very much for what you do out there. I would like to focus on the portable fuel container safety act which im also a co sponsor. And again, this legislation requires the flame mitigation devices or arresters be used on portable fuel containers for the flammable liquid fuel ss also allow for voluntary standard be considered as the Consumer Product safety rule, if it meets the intent of the bill and other requirements. Captain, could you go into more detail in describing the different type of flame arresters that are available on the market today . Congressman, could you repeat the question . Im sorry there was yeah, sometimes [inaudible]. Could you go into more detail in describing the different types of flame arresters that are available in the market today . Congressman, i dont have information on the specific types of flame arresters. I would be more than happy to provide that information to you at a later time. I would appreciate that. Again, i know you talked about it a little earlier. Could you go into detail how the flame arresters prevent the flames from shedding out . Congressman, my understanding is that when flammable liquid container ignites, pressure builds up in the container itself, and that then shoots flammable vapors out of the opening. This arrester would keep the vapors from escaping through that opening, thus keeping a flame from shooting from the opening. Thank you very much. Madame chair, im going to yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Im now going to recognize congressman soto for five minutes. Let me just announce that on the clock, there is just under 4 minutes for a vote. However, 364 people have not voted. So well continue with you mr. Soto. Thank you, madame chairwoman and i am going to make a brief comment. It wasnt more than two weeks ago that i had a mother, megan delong come into my office from the sarasota area talking about her child connor who died due to a dresser that was not balanced correctly and implored me to make sure to support the sturdy act. I know that we have also here today were joined by crystal ellis. Thank you for being here and fighting for our kids. Whether its that, whether its the incline sleeper, whether its crib bumpers or Carbon Monoxide detectors or so many of the other great bills that are up today that were workshoping, theres a sense that was said here that people assume the government is doing something about it. But thats not always true. People assume that the agencies are doing something about it, and thats not always true. Thats why were here today. I thank you for your leadership, madame chairwoman, on having a workshop on these bills because for every one of these, theres hundreds to thousands of stories of everyone from infants and Young Children to our seniors that are put at risk and god forbid pass away because of a negligently built risky products. So when people assume the government is working on it, this committee here today is evidence that we are and that were hearing these stories and these cries from across the nation. So thank you for that leaders p leadership. If you would be willing to yield . Yes, i yield back. Congresswoman kelly, the remainder yes, i yield to congresswoman kelly. Thank you. Ms. Ellis, i want to thank you also for your testimony today. Im deeply sorry for the unnecessary loss you and your family have endured. As you mentioned the life threatening hazards of unsafe household products such as dressers or crib bumpers can affect anyone and everybody. In my own district, the city of chicago as you have heard has banned the use of crib bumpers making every infant in chicago safer and giving chicago parents more of a peace of mind. However, only a third of my district is actually in the city of chicago. Mostly in the south suburbs so i have a rural portion. So putting another way, children in two thirds of my district are at risk, just like your son. Parents in two thirds of my district are burdened with homework to ensure their purchase is safe. I wanted to ask a question, when we talk about education, all of you have talked about education. Besides by doctors or parents going to parent groups that will have children or in your case, is it firefighters, who should educate beyond government . I know we have our responsibility to do what we need to do, but what would you recommend so we do get to every day people about what they should do . I am really glad to see that the American Academy of pediatrics is backing this. I think i have been saying with my pediatrician who had a tipover story herself. She happened to be in the room with her 8yearold when it happened. That and im also working in Washington State with child profile to add risk of tipover information to the packets that get sent to families. But sometimes people dont read those. So i think a conversation especially with your pediatrician when you are going in for the well child checks, have you looked at your dresser . Have you anchored to it the wall . Have you considered all the different hazards in your home . It should be part of that conversation. Captain . Congresswoman kelly, when i first started working with flame retardant issue, i was scratching my head, why would a firefighter be against flame retardants . And the more i dug into it, the more education that i got from my union, the iff, and other colleagues in other states, the issue was very clear and very present in all of our lives. As firefighters, we were all affected. So as president of the Minnesota State association, we took it upon yourselves to educate our firefighters in the state because firefighters will listen to other firefighters. So thats how we tackled that. As far as consumer safety products, perhaps putting more of an onus on manufacturers and retailers to get it on the packaging. You cant buy cigarettes without seeing the Surgeon Generals warning front and center, so perhaps Something Like that where it is on everybodys mind. Thank you. I yield back and thank you chairwoman. Theres still 270 people that have not voted yet. Not that i want to promote delinquency when it comes to voting, but i wondered if you had something short that you wanted to present . Thank you, madame chair. It is short. As a former first responder, police officer, captain, weve seen a lot of death. Some preventable. Some accidental. Mrs. Elliss case, it was preventable. In many cases of Young Children dying, its preventable. And what i heard a common theme here today is that the action that there is [inaudible] it is too slow. The education process needs to be at a higher level. Mr. Samuels, you clearly indicated that the agency is underfunded, vastly underfunded. Believe it is along with many other agencies that address the needs of the safety of our citizens. And there is a need, ms. Ellis, as you said, theres a need to do more. Its critical that we do more. And its also critical that congress looks at itself in the mirror and says we need to do more. This idea that people look at agencies and say its the agencys fault. The agency is only going to be as good as the people it hires, the supervision, and the amount of funding give it to be able to do its mission. And so im sorry mrs. Ellis that you have to be here today, but thank you for what you do. And i just when it comes to education, we should understand that were all all of us are involved. I have three young grandchildren, a fourth one thats a little older. When we go into the home, we always check to see if the straps are on, if the sockets are taken care of, and our children are too precious to us all, and if youve seen the trauma that the captain and i and others have seen, you can understand the relevance of making sure we get this done right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let me close by saying, and again to thank all of the witnesses. There may be others who wanted to come back, but were probably going to be on the floor for about two and a half hours. So i wanted to thank you for being here. I want to put in the record a statement from representative mike thompson, a statement from safe kids worldwide president , a letter from the National Association of manufacturers, a letter from breathable baby llc, a letter from the American Home furnishings alliance, an article from the Washington Post regarding inclined sleepers, a letter from kids in danger and the Consumer Federation of america, a letter from the Security Industry association, a letter from safe kids worldwide, without objection, so ordered. And i want to remind members that per Committee Rules they have ten Business Days to submit additional questions for the record to be answered by witnesses who have appeared. I want to ask each witness to respond promptly to any such questions that may arise. And just a final huge thank you. What youre doing today is saving lives. With that the subcommittee is adjourned. Weeknights this month we featuring book tv programs showcasing whats available every weekend here on cspan 2. Tonight the theme is secret u. S. Intelligence programs. Journalist reports on the pentagons aerial surveillance system. An investigative journalist talks about cia covert operations from the cold war to present day. And Cnn National Security correspondent talks about the United States shadow wars with russia and china. Watch all that tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern on cspan 2 and enjoy book tv this week and every weekend on cspan 2. President trump tomorrow will deliver remarks at the American Veterans National Convention in louisville kentucky. Live coverage begins 2 00 p. M. Eastern, online at cspan. Org or listen with the cspan radio app. Saturday on book tv at 7 00 p. M. Eastern, in her latest book, women on the ground, the author looks at the challenges female arab and middle eastern journalists face while reporting. All of the authors were able to push through whatever barriers they had and write really openly and honestly about their deepest struggles. One of the essays that comes to mind is the one you mentioned. It is such a raw and honest account of grief and of loss, and it also reflects the state of the arab world today. This isnt an uplifting book. Then sunday, at 7 45 p. M. Eastern, Princeton University professor perry on race, gender, and class in america. Her most recent book is breathe, a letter to my sons. The reality is that i have to arm them not simply with kind of a set of skills and intellectual tools that allow them to flourish in school and ethics and values, but also way to make sense of the hostility that encounter every day from people at times whose responsibility is to treat them as community members. And at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, on afterwords, Media Research Center Founder and president brent bozell on his book unmasked big medias war against trump. All [inaudible] has been cast aside, from Donald Trumps opponents to him. They call him far worse things. They are attempting to do far worse to him than what they accuse him of doing to them. Its telling. They have no right, none. Watch book tv every weekend on cspan 2. Democratic president ial candidate senator gillibrand said shes open to being a Vice President ial running mate. She made the comment in an interview with Washington Post National Political reporter robert costa. They talked about her chances for qualifying for the third democratic debate and a number of other issues facing her president ial campaign. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Washington Post. Im fred ryan, publisher, and