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Amy in the News

Senate Bans Industry-Paid Travel for CPSC (Washington Post)

March 6, 2008

By Annys Shin

The Senate yesterday approved by a vote of 96 to 0 a measure banning industry-paid travel for commissioners and employees of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The ban is part of sweeping product safety legislation that the Senate could vote on as early as today.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) proposed the measure in response to a series of articles in The Washington Post reporting that the current and former heads of the CPSC, as well as staff members, accepted trips paid for by industries with business before the commission.

A similar measure was included in a larger product safety bill that the House passed in December.

Unlike the House travel ban, the Senate version provides the CPSC with $1.2 million to cover travel and lodging expenses over the next several years.

"This is about making the commission more accountable to the public," Klobuchar said in a statement. "We must prevent the CPSC from engaging in practices that give even the appearance of impropriety or undue influence from regulated industries."

Separately, the CPSC announced plans yesterday to permanently station inspectors at the nation's busiest ports, starting with the Port of Long Beach in California, acting chairman Nancy Nord said.