Obama to Continue Underfunding Consumer Safety Agency

President Obama’s budget would continue to short change the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the chief regulator of common products like toys and toasters. According to a statement on the White House website [1], Obama will ask for only $107 million for an agency that has long been starved for resources.

[2]A White House press release today touted the Obama administration’s commitment to consumer product safety and said Obama would propose a funding increase for the agency when he releases his full budget proposal (expected Thursday).

But the press release is chock full of creative math. The release says that Obama’s request of $107 million is "a 71 percent increase in resources since FY 2007." That’s true – but Obama’s request is for FY 2010. What about FY 2008 and 2009?

Well, in those years, CPSC saw major funding increases. After receiving only $63 million in FY 2007, CPSC received $80 million in FY 2008 and $105 million in FY 2009 (thanks to some much needed attention from Congress). So, from FY 2007 to FY 2009, CPSC saw a 67 percent increase. (Some of the FY 2009 funds will remain with the agency through FY 2010 for use in updating its testing lab.)

The White House’s attempt to take credit for a 71 percent increase – when’s it’s proposing less than a two percent increase from the current year – is offensive to anyone with easy access to a calculator.

Moreover, Obama’s request of $107 million is about 10 percent short of the amount authorized by Congress. CPSC reform legislation passed last summer [3] says that CPSC may receive up to $118 million in FY 2010.

CPSC’s budget has suffered years of neglect [4]. From 1974, when the agency first became fully operational, to 2007, the agency’s budget was cut in half. Staffing levels dropped precipitously too. Meanwhile, the industries CPSC regulates have grown, and imported products, often produced in countries like China with less aggressive regulators, have increasingly been stocked on American shelves.

The results have been well chronicled. Recalls, especially recalls of imported toys tainted by lead, have drawn headlines over the past three years.

Luckily, Congress will have an opportunity to rectify the budget request. But the signal the Obama administration is sending (not to mention its misleading math) with this request does not engender much hope that we will see positive reform at CPSC.

Image from Wikimedia Commons; [2]used under a Creative Commons license.