In 2008, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Among itsmandates: Consumers will have access to a public database to report and learn about hazards posed by unsafe products. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has compiled that database, and it's ready to launch next week.
But Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) doesn't want consumers to see it. He does not want them to see "reports of defective products from a wide range of sources, including consumers, health-care providers, death certificates and media accounts," reports Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post. He does not want consumers to change how they make purchasing decisions. He does not want them to see a database that is "limited to complaints about safety and does not deal with product reliability or performance," reports Layton.
Pompeo wants to cut government spending. He and his cronies attached an amendment to a House spending bill passed Feb. 19 to deep-six the database. Writing in The Wichita Eagle Feb. 20, he said: "We can grow our economy by reining in runaway government spending."
This database cost the product safety commission only $3 million to compile. That money's been spent. So why pull the plug, Mike?
Interestingly, for a guy who wrote that "the long-term benefits of breaking our spending addiction greatly outweigh the tough choices we'll encounter in the short term," he's giddily happy about spending $35 billion, let alone $3 million. That's the size of the contract the Air Force awarded Boeing to build 179 next-generation aerial refueling tankers. Perhaps that's because Boeing estimates that 7,500 jobs will be created in Wichita, which Pompeo represents, and where the final tanker assembly will be done.
Said Pompeo: "It is time to start building refueling tankers in Kansas for our nation's security." Apparently, a database that provides consumer security is beyond his comprehension.
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