Keeping Dangerous Products Out of Homes and Stores:

"Now is an important time for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be well equipped to fight for these consumer safety issues. We need it to remain a strong force in keeping unsafe and defective products, including children's toys, infant rockers, household appliances, and other [products] like elevators and space heaters … out of the market." – Sen. Cantwell

The Commerce Committee is tasked with oversight of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which regulates the safety of more than 15,000 everyday products and helps keep hazardous products out of our homes and away from our children. 

Sen. Cantwell continued her efforts to protect children from dangerous -- even deadly-- residential elevators, securing commitments from President Biden's nominees to take action. As a result, in January 2022, the CPSC recalled tens of thousands of dangerous residential elevators. 

Last year, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter with Sen. Blumenthal asking the CPSC to take action on faulty space heaters. Since the letter, the CPSC has taken two enforcement actions related to dangerous space heaters. One involved a recall of about 4,500 heaters prone to overheating. The other was a $7.5 million fine against Vornado heaters for failure to immediately report space heaters posing a fire hazard.

In June 2022, after approval by the Commerce Committee, the Senate confirmed President' Biden's nominee, Mary Boyle, to serve as a CPSC commissioner – giving the agency a full complement of commissioners. Boyle's confirmation followed the confirmation of Alex Hoehn-Saric as the Chairman and Richard Trumka Jr. as a Commissioner.

 Sen. Blumenthal, Chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, at a hearing ahead of
the holidays on hazardous holiday products and children's toys

Protecting Children From Deadly Furniture Tip-Overs:

Furniture tip-overs have taken more than 200 lives since 2000, with an average of around 5,300 emergency-room-treated injuries every year. Despite this devastating toll, until 2022, there was no legally enforceable safety standard to prevent tip-overs of clothing storage units like dressers. Consumers can take certain steps to protect themselves and their loved ones, such as anchoring furniture to walls, but the responsibility for making a product safe to use should ultimately fall on the manufacturer, not a parent, college student, or senior.

Tip-overs mostly impact children, who can be trapped under fallen furniture. No family should face tragedy because some furniture makers have refused to prioritize fixing a known safety hazard.

The STURDY Act, which was signed into law as part of the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill - sponsored by Sen. Casey and Committee-members Sens. Blumenthal, Klobuchar, Markey and Baldwin - directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to fast-track a mandatory safety standard for clothing storage units.

Read More About the STURDY Act

Giving Shoppers Greater Confidence When Buying Online:

Consumers should be able to shop with confidence, knowing that online marketplaces are not conduits of stolen, counterfeit, or dangerous goods. It's not always clear whether online marketplaces have done their due diligence on third-party sellers. To help stop anonymous vendors from selling counterfeit goods and stolen items in bulk online, Congress passed the INFORM Consumers Act as part of the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. The Act, co-sponsored by Committee-members Sens. Blumenthal, Klobuchar and Warnock, requires online marketplaces to provide a hotline so consumers can easily report products that appear to have been stolen, look counterfeit, or pose other concerns.

Read More About the INFORM Act

Shining a Light on the "Mysterious Middle" in the Oil Market:

 
"Protecting American households and businesses requires forcing the same level of transparency in fuel markets that we successfully fought to secure in other energy markets. This legislation will put a full-time policeman on the beat able to shine a bright light on the mysterious middle of gas markets and go after any bad actors that are exploiting consumers." – Sen. Cantwell

 
Last year, Americans faced record-high gas and diesel price increases. West Coast consumers were hit especially hard. In May 2022, the state of Washington had the fourth-highest gas prices in the country, with an average of $4.92 per gallon, and soared to above $5 a gallon, according to AAA. Additionally, according to a Seattle Times analysis of gas prices compiled by AAA, from 2017-2021, Washingtonians paid on average 45 cents more per gallon than the national average.

Americans deserve more visibility into the inner workings of the fuel market to know whether gas prices are fair. Sen. Cantwell introduced the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act, which would significantly increase transportation fuel market transparency and boost the FTC's authority to proactively monitor and prevent fraud or manipulation that may be artificially inflating gas prices.

Sen. Cantwell chaired a hearing on April 5, 2022, that shed light on the need for oversight and visibility into petroleum trades that affect prices at the gas pump. The legislation passed the Committee on May 26, 2022, and will continue to work on this issue in the new Congress.

Read More About the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act