Legislative Accomplishments

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over consumer regulations and protections, I am committed to helping to increase consumer safety and to putting an end to malicious business practices.  In recent years, Congress has passed legislation that I have authored to help reach these goals and enable Americans to continue to lead happy, healthy lives. I will continue to work with my colleagues to enact legislation that makes travel and tourism safer, raises product standards, ends unfair business practices, and puts power back in the hands of the consumer.

In 2010, Congress passed legislation of mine that will protect American consumers from the high use of the formaldehyde toxin used in common household items, including hundreds of everyday applications, ranging from paneling and flooring, to cabinets, doors, shelving, molding, and countertops.

This legislation will level the playing field for our domestic manufactures by creating one national standard on formaldehyde emissions for both our domestic industry and foreign manufactures to follow.  Simply put: we must ensure that faulty foreign wood products do not enter the U.S. market anymore.  In doing so, this bill will protect and create American jobs, boost the competitiveness of our domestic manufacturing sector, and ensure that American consumers are not exposed to faulty foreign products with high formaldehyde emissions.  After passing the House and Senate with bipartisan support, the bill was signed into law by President Obama in June of 2010.

Click here for more information on this bill.

In July 2010, the President signed legislation I sponsored that provides a critical and common-sense fix to the gross inadequacies of current safety requirements on cruise ships.  The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act requires the cruise industry to comply with a number of security provisions including specific rail heights, peep holes, warning devices, and cabin security measures.  After four years of working alongside Laurie Dishman, a Sacramento, CA resident who wrote to me asking for help after being sexually assaulted on a cruise ship, we passed this legislation through Congress with strong bipartisan support.  This is a tremendous step in traveler protection, and will help ensure the safety of Americans at sea.

Click here for more information on this bill.