Bush "Slowly Killing" Consumer Safety Agency

Sole Democratic Commissioner Complains of Budget, Staff Cuts

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 29, 2007

“Two years of significant staffing cuts and other resource reductions have limited the Commission’s ability to carry out its mission and have left the agency at a point where it is now doing only what is absolutely necessary for it to do and little else,” Moore wrote in a letter outlining his hopes for revitalizing the agency.

Bush's most recent budget proposal increases the agency's funds by $880,000. But with standard inflation and rent increases, the CPSC was still forced to fire 19 employees, reducing its staff to 401 total.

The chronically underfunded agency still uses a 1950s missile-tracking site as its testing lab.

“Staff morale is very low,” Moore wrote. “Employees see the agency being gradually but continually downsized; managers cannot fill vacant positions and employees either take on additional jobs as their colleagues leave or see projects shelved for lack of funding.

“Many employees at the agency are looking for other jobs because they have no confidence the agency will continue to exist (or will exist in any meaningful form) for many more years," Moore continued. “The clear signal from the administration is that consumer protection is just not that important.”

No Quorum

Besides the problems enumerated by Moore, Bush has left the agency powerless to invoke mandatory recalls, create new legislation and levy fines because he has not nominated a third commissioner to fill a long-standing vacancy.

Responding to criticism in the press and around Capitol Hill, Baroody withdrew his name the day before a Senate hearing to vote on his nomination. Two months later the commission is still down one commissioner.

The agency's two remaining commissioners have shared the CPSC's woes with members of Congress over the past few months and most Democrats appear sympathetic while Republicans have remained largely noncommittal.

Several Democrats have proposed legislation that would strengthen the agency through budget increases, more rigid policies and at least temporary authorization to operate with two commissioners.

Reauthorization

Democrats have also discussed "reauthorizing" the agency – a lengthy legislative process that rewrites the agency's composition, powers and authority.

Moore, a Clinton appointee and former assistant law school dean, is clearly hoping that takes place.

“For the first time since I came to the Commission, over twelve years ago, I have the sense that real and important changes can be made to our statutes to give us new authorities and clearer direction in achieving our mission,” he wrote.

Members of Congress asked Moore and the agency's Chair, Nancy Nord, to submit proposals for reathorization. Because Nord is a Republican and Moore is a Democrat, it's likely the Democratic-controlled Congress will pay more heed to Moore's call for a stronger agency with stricter regulatory powers.

Moore's proposal could yield two particularly controversial changes.

Public Records

The first is a request that the agency's proceedings with manufacturers be available to the public. This could potentially include publishing unverified, uncensored consumer complaints. That practice would be similar to what ConsumerAffairs.com does now; it would also open a trove of complaints which consumers have filed with the agency over the years.

The complaints that taxpayers file are now kept secret from the public, a concession granted to manufacturers by a friendly Congress years ago. Although Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests can pry loose complaints about a specific company, there is no easy way for the public to read the information other consumers have submitted to a publicly-funded agency.

Private Web sites like ConsumerAffairs.com have filled a vital need by publishing consumers' complaints but they do so under constant harrassment and legal challenges. Many such sites have come and gone in the last decade and industry lobbyists and dirty trick artists are hard at work undermining those that remain in business.

Accountability

The second controversial change would hold companies more accountable for their defective products.

Currently, companies are shielded from most personal injury lawsuits as long as they follow the procedure for voluntarily recalling their unsafe product. But changes which will likely be added later in the legislative process could hold companies liable regardless, a source close to the proceedings said.

It's expected that manufacturers will vehemently oppose these changes along with the rest of Moore's proposals. Baroody's National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is expected to lead the charge against the changes, although NAM spokesman Hank Cox said the organization would not have a comment until Monday.

This could present the interesting scenario of Baroody -- President Bush's failed choice to head the agency charged with protecting consumers -- leading a campaign to weaken or eliminate proposals that would strengthen the agency's ability to do so.

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