FY 2011 Appropriations Bill Passed by House Would Ban Spending on CPSC Public Database
The fiscal year 2011 Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1), which passed the House on February 18, 2011, contained numerous amendments prohibiting the use of FY 2011 funds for specific government programs and requirements.
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Among these, was a prohibition against using FY 2011 funds to carry out any of the activities described in section 6A1 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, which is on the establishment of a public database of consumer product safety incidents by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This database amendment passed the House by a vote of 234 ayes to 187 nays.
Pompeo Says Database Will be Costly, Contain False Information
According to the amendment’s sponsor, Representative Pompeo (R), this amendment would keep the CPSC from “wasting more than $3 Million2 on a public online database chock-full of false information that would force every manufacturer to increase its cost of doing business in America.”
Database Already in “Soft Launch”, Set to Officially Launch March 11
On January 24, 2011, CPSC conducted a “soft launch” of the database in order to test its applications and CPSC’s internal operating procedures. In addition, CPSC sources state that the agency is on schedule to officially launch the database, called SaferProducts.gov, on March 11, 2011.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/21/11 and 12/09/10 news, 10120917 and 11012128, for BP summaries of the soft launch and CPSC’s database final rule.)
Bill Would Have to Be Approved by Senate, Enacted by President
In order to become law, the bill, which was passed by the Republican-controlled House, would have to be passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate and enacted by the President. Senate Majority Leader Reid has already announced that he plans a different tactic and will be introducing a 30 continuing resolution to keep the government funded while Democrats and Republicans work out spending cuts. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/23/11 news, 11022318, for BP summary.)
1Section 6A describes the database CPSC is required to establish under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). It includes details on required contents of the database; when it must be established; and information on the submission, publication, accuracy, confidentiality and availability of incident information.
2According to testimony by CPSC Chairman Tenenbaum on February 17, 2011, the agency spent $3 million to establish the database.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/22/11 news, 11022202, for BP summary of the House passing the FY 2011 Continuing Appropriations Act.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/18/11 news, 11021819, for BP summary of certain House members, including Rep Pompeo, stating they would introduce legislation to delay the launch of the public database.)
Rep. Pompeo press release, dated 02/20/11, available here.