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Rally to Change (yay, change!) the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (Rep. George Radanovich)

by Calif. GOP Rep. George Radanovich - 04/01/09 10:34 AM ET

For months now, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and I have been begging and cajoling Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to hold a hearing to investigate the unintended consequences of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Chairman Waxman brushed off our first letter, even as thousands of small and medium sized businesses across the country were being forced to shut down.

Our second letter finally elicited a half-hearted response from Mr. Waxman that essentially amounted to him punting on a CPSIA hearing until a new Chairman was named for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) — not exactly the type of leadership that the American people deserve during an economic recession.

The small business owners across the country cannot afford to wait for a new CPSC Chairman — they need help now. There is no excuse to let good businesses flounder and die because Congress acted too haphazardly when reacting to the Chinese children’s toy scare. The unintended consequences of CPSIA are yet another frightening example of big government steamrolling over the little guy in the name of government regulation for the “better good.”

Yesterday, Mr. Barton and I introduced the Consumer Product Safety Solutions Act, which will clarify the standards for children’s products, adjust deadlines to reflect marketplace realities, and give the CPSC the flexibility it needs to protect children from real harm while effectively regulating the market.

This morning, from 10:00 a.m. until noon EDT, hundreds of CPSIA activists will gather in Washington D.C., at the Capitol Visitors Center to hold their own public hearing/rally on the devastating unintended consequences of CPSIA. They want to bring their message directly to the Democratic leadership in Congress who continues to ignore their cries for help.

I will be attending the rally, listening to stories from small business owners across the country and lending my support to their cause.

If you are interested in learning more or participating online I encourage you to visit http://amendthecpsia.com/ –- there will be a live video stream of the rally, a webinar, and live Twitter feed (#CPSIA).

Cross-post from Redstate.com.