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Klobuchar will help negotiate toy safety legislation
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WASHINGTON - Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been named to a House-Senate conference committee that is negotiating consumer product safety legislation, a position that will enable the Minnesota Democrat to push for toy safety provisions that she sponsored.
Klobuchar was chosen by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., making her one of seven senators responsible for reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bill, the first major rewrite of U.S. consumer protection law in 15 years.
"It's important that we get this bill done quickly and that we maintain the strong standards passed in the Senate bill," Klobuchar said Wednesday. "This is an important step to protect the safety of our children, and it is long past time to get these toxic toys off our shores and out of our stores."
The Senate version has three provisions sponsored by Klobuchar: a comprehensive ban on lead in children's products; a "batch number" requirement to make it easier to identify recalled toys; and a ban on the sale of recalled toys, a practice that is still allowed.
Klobuchar introduced these measures last year after recalls of toxic, lead-tainted toys and the death of Jarnell Brown, a 4-year-old boy from Minnesota who died after swallowing a toy charm made almost entirely of lead.
Klobuchar also added an amendment with Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., to ban industry-paid travel by Consumer Product Safety Commission members and employees. The Senate passed the amendment 96 to 0 after reports of staff taking dozens of trips paid for by industries with business before the commission.
This is Klobuchar's first conference assignment.
KEVIN DIAZ
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