Consumer Safety Not a Priority in House of Representatives

It’s easy to have mixed loyalties when it comes to the economy.  Recruiters faced with many inquiries about job openings may want to greet every new job is a great thing.  On the other hand, every company still needs to be held to just standards for safety and consumer protection.

Currently, the House of Representatives is choosing to prioritize job creation and uninterrupted production over the safety of consumers.  The Representatives decided to cut funding for consumer financial protections and product safety.  A notable example is that they slashed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from $600 million to $200 million and eliminated funding for a new consumer product safety public information database.  People had worked hard to establish this brand-new bureau and project.  Cutting its budget before it had a chance to get off the ground wastes all the time that people had put into this resource for consumers.

Christine Hines, consumer and civil justice counsel for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, criticized the slash in funds: “Today, consumer protection was not on the appropriators’ minds. They thought only of protecting industry from accountability. Voting to shut down a critical consumer tool like the product safety database, which has just been created and is being used by consumers, is a waste of a government investment and will return product safety monitoring to a dark place where we will be unaware of harmful toys and other products.”