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    Senate Approves Consumer Safety Overhaul That Bush Opposes
    By Mark Drajem
    Bloomberg

    Thursday 06 March 2008

    Washington - The U.S. Senate, responding to a spate of recalls of Chinese-made goods, voted to require more product testing and raise fines tenfold on the makers of unsafe goods as part of an overhaul of consumer safety laws.

    The Senate's 79 to 13 vote today sets up a political clash because it contains provisions that the Bush administration opposes and the House of Representatives left out of its version. The disputed provisions include an expansion of whistleblower protections and the creation of a new database of complaints.

    The legislative action stems from the recall last year of Chinese-made products such as lead-paint tainted toys, contaminated toothpaste and defective tires. Toymaker Mattel Inc. recalled 21 million Chinese-made toys in the last year because of excessive lead paint or detached magnets that could be swallowed.

    "This bill will help protect the public and return consumer confidence to the marketplace," said Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens, one of the measure's authors.

    The legislation is the first governing the Consumer Product Safety Commission in almost two decades. The bill would raise potential fines on companies to $20 million, 10 times the current maximum, require independent testing of toys and impose criminal penalties on those who violate safety laws.

    Three Provisions

    The measure passed by the House last year doesn't include three provisions the Senate included and the Bush administration opposes. The differences with the House version will have to be resolved before it can be sent to the president.

    The administration said this week that expanded whistleblower protections would increase frivolous claims against employers. The proposed database would "be of limited public safety benefit and will result in a significant increase in wasteful litigation," a statement from the administration said.

    In addition, a provision giving state attorneys general the ability to enforce consumer safety laws would lead to "a confusing patchwork of safety standards that would make it impossible to enforce uniform, national policies," the statement said.

    There could be difficulty negotiating a compromise with House of Representatives. Yesterday, Representative John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor, the Senate measure's chief author, to complain that he has "mischaracterized" the House bill during remarks on the floor.

    "The House bill has many protections that greatly promote consumer health and safety that are noticeably absent from the Senate bill," Dingell wrote.