July 11, 2024
The Honorable Patty Murray, Chair
The Honorable Susan Collins, Vice Chair
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations S-128
The Capitol Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Chris Van Hollen, Chair
The Honorable Bill Hagerty, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Dear Chair Murray, Vice Chair Collins, Chair Van Hollen, and Ranking Member Hagerty:
The undersigned consumer, medical, public health, and parent organizations write to strongly urge you to increase funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in FY 2025 appropriations. At a minimum, the CPSC should receive the requested amount of $183.05 million. With the agency already operating under severe resource constraints, the CPSC should not be subject to any additional cuts or restrictions that would further undermine its ability to protect the public from hazardous consumer products.
Established in 1972, the CPSC is an independent agency charged with a critical mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of illness, injury, or death associated with over 15,000 different types of consumer products, including children’s products. Consumers depend on the CPSC to protect them and their families from unsafe products, especially as the consumer product marketplace rapidly changes. The agency’s ability to take strong action based on clear health and safety evidence is critical to keeping the marketplace and people safe. If the CPSC is not adequately supported by Congress, consumers and their families will be left at risk from both longstanding product hazards and newly emerging ones.
In 2021, the CPSC received additional one-time funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which has allowed the agency to expand its presence and strengthen its ability to inspect imported consumer products at the ports of entry. The additional funding also provided the CPSC with the resources to begin to modernize its National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a widely recognized and utilized public research tool. With this funding scheduled to be completely exhausted by the end of FY 2025, if Congress fails to increase CPSC funding to at least the requested amount, it will impede the CPSC in these efforts to stop unsafe products at the border and collect robust incident data. Moreover, CPSC may be unable to effectively enforce product safety laws and reach the public with critical recall information and safety campaigns. We also strongly urge you to protect the agency’s vital work from damaging appropriations riders that restrict the ability of the CPSC to fulfill its mission to protect the public from hazardous consumer products.
We look forward to working with you to ensure that the CPSC is fully empowered to keep the public safe from hazardous products and prevent product-related deaths and injuries.
Sincerely,
American Academy of Pediatrics
Claire Bear Foundation
Consumer Reports
Kids In Danger
Northwest Infant Survival and SIDS Alliance
Parents for Window Blind Safety
Safe Infant Sleep
Charlie’s House
Consumer Federation of America
Derrick Stone Safe Sleep
National Center for Health Research
Parents Against Tip-Overs
Public Citizen
That Water Bead Lady
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
cc: The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Chair, and The Honorable Ted Cruz, Ranking Member, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation; The Honorable John Hickenlooper, Chair, and The Honorable Marsha Blackburn, Ranking Member, of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security
*This letter was sent to House and Senate leadership and Appropriations.
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