By Cliff Montgomery – June 17th, 2009
President Obama’s budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 will continue a dangerous under-funding of theConsumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the top federal regulator of everyday products like toastersand toys.
The U.S. government’s fiscal year starts on October 1st – hence the budget for FY 2010 will go into effect inOct. 2009.
“In the President’s budget, the CPSC receives $107 million, a 71 percent increase in resources since FY2007,” according to a May White House press release.
“This is almost three quarters of the way to meeting the President’s goal of doubling CPSC’s funding,” addedthe May release.
At first glance, the move seems a welcome change from the George W. Bush years, when one of America’stop corporate cops was perilously under-funded. Obama’s move is a definite improvement, but it’s not quite thelifesaver that this White House pretends.
Let’s take a closer look at the numbers. The release claims that Obama’s call for $107 million marks “a 71percent increase in resources since FY 2007.” That’s technically true. But the Obama Administration fails tomention that much of this CPSC budget increase actually occurred in Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009.
After receiving a paltry $63 million for FY 2007, CPSC was given $80 million for FY 2008 and received $105million for FY 2009. Congress deserves the credit for those budget increases.
Readers handy with a calculator will note that Congress thus produced a 67 percent budget increase forCPSC from Fiscal Year 2007 to FY 2009.
Thus the Obama Administration actually is proposing a tiny budget increase of less than two percent for thenext fiscal year–a far cry from the “71 percent increase in resources since FY 2007” claimed by the president.
In fact, Obama’s request for the agency is nearly 10 percent less than the full amount certified by Congresslast summer through CPSC reform legislation. The agency may receive as much as $118 million for FY 2010.
CPSC has been under-funded and neglected for years. The agency lost half of its funding from 1974–the yearthe agency became fully operational–to 2007. Staff levels also have considerably dropped over that period.
At the same time, the various industries and imported products regulated by the CPSC have grown by leapsand bounds.
The inevitable results are known to any well-informed American. A host of tainted or unsafe products–mostinfamously numerous imported toys tainted with lead–increasingly have made it to U.S. consumer shelves.
A remaining hope is that Congress once again will provide CPSC with more public dollars, so that the agencymay more properly fulfill its function as one of America’s major corporate cops. Whether the Democratsrunning Congress will be as interested in fixing the mistakes of a White House headed by one of their ownremains to be seen.
