Oversight

• House Committee on Homeland Security: (10/02/07) — Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff regarding the department’s failure to implement the mandated Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).

TWIC was originally required by the Maritime Transportation Act of 2002, but “five years and millions of taxpayer dollars later, this card has yet to be implemented,” Thompson wrote. “As you know, the implementation of the TWIC program was identified as one of the key items on the ‘To Do’ list that the Committee on Homeland Security provided to you last month. We strongly believe that the Department of Homeland Security owes the American taxpayer an accounting of the past five years.”

• House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: (10/03/07) — Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wrote to the Consumer Healthcare Products Administration (CHPA) to ask why its member companies still market over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for use in infants even after the CHPA said that these products should not be consumed by children under 2 years of age.

Many CHPA member companies “are currently marketing these products for use in children under 2,” Waxman wrote. “They are labeled for ‘infants,’ sold in dropper or thin strip form, and all the boxes have drawings of little babies (and no older children) on them.

“I am writing to ask for your leadership in ensuring that CHPA’s recommendations are promptly carried out by your member companies in a manner that ensures that children under 2 are no longer exposed to cough and cold products that have not been shown to be safe and effective for them.”

• Senate Rules and Administration Committee: (09/27/07) — Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Smithsonian Board of Regents Chairman Roger Sant calling on the board to respond to the latest news of continued maintenance and security issues at their facilities, which a new Government Accountability Office report detailed last week.

“It is clear that without a comprehensive plan to raise private funds to address these issues, the Smithsonian facilities will continue to decline, putting the treasures in its collection at great risk,” the letter stated.