Director of Consumer Product Safety Commission Should Resign

(Washington, DC)  —  Citing a failure to recognize the severity of the crisis facing American consumers, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Services of the Committee on Appropriations joined Speaker Pelosi and other members of Congress in calling for the resignation of Nancy Nord, the Acting Director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The budget for the CPSC is funded the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. The following is Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s statement:

“It is past time for Nancy Nord to resign. In a budget hearing this summer, I discussed the 2008 budget for the CPSC with Acting Director Nord, who felt that funding for her agency was adequate to protect consumers from dangerous products. Now, after millions of toys have been recalled over the past few months, Acting Director Nord continues to say that the CPSC is operating at a level that will protect families and consumers from unsafe products. Director Nord’s statements and the CPSC’s performance do not match the reality facing millions of American parents as they begin to shop for their children this holiday season.

Our committee recognized this summer that, to protect the American consumer from unsafe products, the CPSC did not have the resources they needed and as such we increased their budget by $4.1 million, significantly more than President Bush’s budget request. Unfortunately, Acting Director Nord still has not realized the severity of the crisis facing American consumers and continues to state that the CPSC can protect consumers with the resources they have. As a parent, I don’t have the confidence that the CPSC can protect my children from unsafe toys. The leadership of the CPSC is out of touch with the reality they are facing. I want them to stop dangerous toys from threatening our children. I no longer have faith that consumers will be protected under the direction of Nancy Nord.”