Pelosi and other key lawmakers called for Consumer Product Safety Commission Acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord's resignation at the same time they announced a push to escalate the profile of bills overhauling the nation's food and toy protection systems. Both the food and toy industries have been hit hard by recent high-profile recalls, including millions of Chinese-made toys contaminated with lead paint.

House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, also called Tuesday for Nord to resign.

DeLauro and Brown claim Nord is unfit because she recently came out against Senate legislation to expand her agency.

"You can't want to run an agency with a regulatory function and not want to regulate." DeLauro said.

DeLauro argued that Nord's past acknowledgment that the agency's minimal staff and resources limit its ability to investigate injuries and deaths is at odds with her stance against expanding the CPSC's enforcement authority and increasing its budget.

CPSC did not respond to a call seeking comment.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that though the administration does not support the specific legislation passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday, it does want to work with Congress to improve and modernize the CPSC.

While Nord has rejected expanding the agency, the consumer advocate alliance Campaign for America's Future released a report Tuesday saying there has been a 338 percent increase in imports since 1974 and, at the same time, the CPSC's staff and budget is less than half its 1974 level.

Lawmakers have proposed several measures to expand the authority of the CPSC or require third-party certification of toy safety.

The measure passed by the Commerce Committee and sent to the Senate floor today would raise CPSC's budget more than 50 percent and increase employees to at least 500 from about 420. The measure also gives CPSC more authority to police the 15,000 types of consumer products it regulates.

House Energy and Commerce Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said at the announcement with Pelosi that he plans to introduce a comprehensive consumer product safety bill. A spokesman for Rush said the legislation might be introduced as early as this week and will include proposals other lawmakers have introduced.

"Thirty years ago, parents went to the store confident they were making safe and healthy choices for their children -- confident in the inspections and oversight of our federal agencies. But that confidence has been shattered in recent years due to the outbreak of contamination in food and record-breaking level of product recalls," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who has pending bills in both the toy and food safety arenas.

DeGette also is a member of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, which is holding several hearings on food and drug import safety.