Happy Mother’s Day 2017 – National Consumers League

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2017 marks the centennial of women being allowed to serve as Members in Congress. Jeanette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to serve in the House of Representative in 1916 and again in 1940. To commemorate this august celebration, the House of Representatives’ historian is featuring a special exhibit of oral histories, which you can check out here if you aren’t lucky enough to be able to see it in person.

With Mother’s Day coming up this Sunday, it’s a good time to look at the considerable progress women have achieved—and also to grapple with the depressing setbacks women have faced recently. As a New York Times story this week pointed out, in the progress column, there are now 21 women in the Senate. No, it’s not half, as it should be, but it’s still progress for what is a very powerful post in American politics.

But the setbacks abound. The House just passed the Affordable Care Act repeal and replace legislation, and in so doing, removed the required coverage for pregnancy and maternity care. The deal was negotiated by 13 Republican men. The Senate’s health care team, established by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), includes not a single woman.

Although female Republican senators number only five, they include Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)—all three of whom are highly respected, very experienced, and have special expertise on health care. The New York Times piece noted how little power—compared with their 16 Democratic female counterparts in the Senate—those GOP female Representatives have.

Then there was the House repeal and replace debates that led up to the vote, which featured Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) demanding to know why men should have to pay for prenatal care–nevermind the fact that the ACA’s requirement that women have no cost access to contraception has driven down the rate of abortion and unwanted pregnancies. And yet, President Trump’s new HHS Secretary Tom Price, a doctor himself, has said repeatedly that no women has been denied access to contraception because of cost. What a shockingly false and ignorant statement!

So Happy Mother’s Day to women across the country! We may have 21 female members of the Senate, but we still have a very long ways to go. We have a Secretary of HHS who doesn’t believe women should have access to contraception or abortion. We have a new woman appointed to oversee Title X programs—great! But she also happens to be a woman who believes birth control should be between a woman, her husband, and God. Call me naïve, but I thought by 2017 women would have gained far more power, respect, and security than recent events demonstrate.

National Consumers League joins consumer advocates demanding consumer protections in Washington – National Consumers League

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May 10, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL) is joining with consumer groups and individuals who are descending on Congress this week to demand an end to the attacks on consumer protections by both Houses of Congress. In particular, the advocates are calling on Congress to reject legislation that would weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and undermine its proposed rules to limit high-cost payday loans and forced arbitration. The advocates are also urging opposition to the Regulatory Accountability Act, which will cause agency paralysis by analysis and make it extremely difficult to enact important new health, safety, and pocketbook protections.

“Consumers want their finances protected from predatory debt collectors or pay day loan sharks. They want sensible regulations that keep their air and water safe for themselves and their families. They overwhelmingly want access to health care and oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. They want safer toys, cribs and strollers for their children. Yet the majority in this Congress is hell bent on repealing those consumer protections and that spells danger for all of us,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

NCL is particularly concerned about the security of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including the $12 billion in ill-gotten gains the agency returned to American consumers. 

“NCL is proud to be joining the legions of consumers who have come to Washington to say ‘stop attacking hard won consumer protections,’” said Greenberg. “We must stand up to members of Congress who are siding with corporations over everyday consumers and oppose the repeal of sensible consumer protections.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL releases consumer guide to fraudulent coding bootcamp claims – National Consumers League

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May 10, 2017

Contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League (NCL) launched an internal site and consumer-friendly guide to help identify fraudulent coding bootcamp job placement claims. Coding bootcamps have been growing, thanks to the job skills they teach to students eager to land sought-after careers in the technology field. However, due to the large demand in bootcamp programs companies have been exaggerating their graduates’ job placement numbers in order to stay competitive. Because of these questionable tactics, NCL is grasping the opportunity to help consumers spot red flags before choosing a bootcamp to enroll in. 

“With tuition costs ranging from $5,000 to as much as $21,000, it’s clear as to why administrators would be tempted to stretch their job placement claims,” explains Sally Greenberg, NCL’s Executive Director. “It’s become exceptionally frequent to see bootcamps boasting job placement rates of well over 90% with “guaranteed” high incomes upon graduation – a [disappointing], but common, reality.”

NCL has released a detailed consumer guide to help relieve the knowledge gap between what is claimed in coding bootcamp advertisements and the reality behind the program’s numbers. The guide examines the popularity of the new coding trend, helps consumers debunk common false claims, and urges people to follow several basic steps when considering a coding bootcamp such as:

  1. Beware of too-good-to-be-true job placement claims. Placement rates in excess of 90% are likely to be exaggerated and rely on cherry-picked data.
  2. Make sure the schools you’re considering are licensed in the state in which they operate.
  3. Don’t rely solely on advertising materials provided by the bootcamp operator. Use independent information to evaluate your options – alumni references, services offered, and quality and qualifications of instructors. 

To make informed decisions with confidence and learn more about the challenges facing this growing industry, visit nclnet.org/coding_bootcamps to view NCL’s coding bootcamp consumer guide.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL statement on the risks of importation and counterfeit drugs – National Consumers League

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May 9, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—As the nation’s pioneer consumer organization, the National Consumers League (NCL) strongly supports consumer access to safe, effective, and affordable prescription drugs. However, given NCL’s long-standing focus on health policy and fraud issues, we are concerned that pending prescription drug importation proposals will open the U.S. market to a flood of counterfeit and/or substandard drugs, putting patient health and safety at risk. HHS and FDA agree that the risks of importation outweigh any potential cost-saving benefits. “Over the last 17 years, every HHS Secretary and FDA Commissioner has refused to certify the safety of prescription drug importation,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

Counterfeit drugs are a significant public health threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10 percent of medicines worldwide are counterfeit, including up to half of the drugs consumed in developing nations. Counterfeit drugs may contain the wrong active ingredient, the wrong amount of the active ingredient, no active ingredient, harmful ingredients, or even poisons such as mercury, road tar, or antifreeze. Fortunately, the U.S. has a closed drug distribution system, along with a comprehensive FDA review, approval, and regulatory process that works to protect American consumers from the threat of counterfeit drugs.

Allowing prescription drug importation from Canada and other countries would likely lead to an explosion of new online pharmacies hoping to lure consumers with the promise of low prices. We know, however, that it is very difficult for consumers to distinguish between safe and legitimate online pharmacy websites and thousands of others selling counterfeit, adulterated, and unapproved drugs. According to the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP Global, of which NCL is an Observer Member), 65 percent of online search results for prescription drugs lead U.S. consumers to illegal and unsafe websites. Furthermore, it is difficult – if not impossible – for law enforcement to take action against these illegal online pharmacies, especially if they are based overseas. Allowing prescription drug importation will only exacerbate these patient safety risks.

NCL is also concerned that there is no way to ensure that drugs purporting to come from Canada actually come from Canada. Canada has said that it will not certify the integrity and safety of drugs exported from Canada into the U.S. According to an FDA report, “FDA evaluation of non-FDA-approved imported drugs revealed that while nearly half of imported drugs claimed to be Canadian or from Canadian pharmacies, 85 percent of such drugs were actually from different countries.” The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) shares NCL’s concerns and has cautioned that “sending consumers online to look for Health Canada-approved medicines is reckless, as US patients are likely to receive unapproved, substandard, and counterfeit drugs from unknown foreign sources, posing a serious risk to patient safety.”

Prescription drug importation undermines the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) safety goals, because product would be sold into the U.S. system without the necessary product identifiers that will enable electronic tracing of products throughout the drug supply chain (see 2/28/17 letter from the Pew Charitable Trusts to Senator Sanders). The U.S. government would not be able to enforce DSCSA requirements as to foreign manufacturers, wholesalers, or dispensers. In addition, there is no way to verify that foreign sellers are buying only from FDA-registered foreign facilities. There is great profit potential for bad actors to purchase from illegal sources and sell to the U.S. market, thus threatening the health of our nation’s consumers.

“While ensuring access to affordable prescription drugs is a goal shared by all, prescription drug importation is too risky,” said NCL Health Policy Director Karin Bolte. As former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf has stated: “Authorizing importation would compromise the closed drug distribution system in the United States and undermine these [safety] laws, thus making it easier for unapproved drugs, which may include counterfeit or other substandard drugs, to reach American patients putting their treatment at risk. FDA is concerned that the risks of unapproved products from foreign sources outweigh any potential cost savings.”

“The National Consumers League urges Congress to reject prescription drug importation proposals and find other ways to ensure consumer access to the safe, effective, and affordable drugs they need to maintain their health,” said Bolte.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

National Consumers League statement on House Passage of the American Health Care Act – National Consumers League

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May 4, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The following statement can be attributed to National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

By voting today to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the U.S. House of Representatives has shown callous disregard for the health of our nation’s consumers. This bill will result in millions of consumers losing health coverage and paying more for less, and should be rejected by the Senate.

Specifically, among its provisions, the bill would:

  • Cause 24 million Americans to lose their health coverage by 2020;
  • Strip protections for consumers with pre-existing conditions, allowing insurers to charge those with pre-existing conditions higher – and likely unaffordable – premiums;
  • Allow states to eliminate guaranteed coverage of essential health benefits like maternity care, prescription drugs, and mental health services;
  • Defund Planned Parenthood, on which millions rely for access to family planning and critical preventive services such as cancer screenings; and
  • End Medicaid as we know it, harming our nation’s most vulnerable consumers.

The National Consumers League joins with our colleagues in the consumer and public health communities in urging the Senate to reject this harmful bill and instead work to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL statement of opposition to FDA decision to delay the compliance date for menu labeling to May 2018 – National Consumers League

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May 4, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), in response to a decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay the compliance date for menu labeling from May 5, 2017 to May 7, 2018, has issued the following statement, which may be attributed to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

Menu labeling guidelines were first introduced as a provision under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The rules require restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and cafeterias, with more than 20 locations, display calorie counts on their printed menus and posted menu boards.

We are disappointed that the FDA has yielded to industry pressure to extend compliance dates yet another year. Industry lobbyists argue compliance will be complicated and costly. However many chains, such as McDonalds, Panera, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks, have already responded to the proposed rules and very helpfully posted calorie and nutrition information for the benefit of all consumers. Studies have shown that companies that offer voluntary calorie amounts actually offer lower calorie meal options than establishments that don’t disclose nutrition information.

Readily available nutritional information allows consumers to make informed choices about what they and their families consume. Even industry agrees. A report by Unilever found that as many as “67 percent of U.S. diners indicated they wanted to know about fat content and calorie content on menus.” Additional research presented by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found: 80 percent of Americans support menu labeling in chain restaurants; 77 percent want calorie labeling at convenience stores; and 81 percent favor having supermarkets provide calorie information for their prepared, restaurant-type foods.

FDA will open a 60-day comment period starting  May 4, 2017. We encourage consumers to submit comments during this period and urge the FDA to enforce menu labeling that gives consumers the nutritional information they want and will use. Additionally, members of Congress are also trying to weaken menu labeling rules. An anti-menu labeling bill named the “Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (S.261/HR.772)” was surreptitiously attached as a rider to the FY2017 appropriations bill. We urge consumers to call their members of Congress in opposition of this misleading bill. Consumers can call them through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

National Consumers League testimony to Senate: Congress must act to restore air travelers’ rights – National Consumers League

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May 4, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today called on the Senate to take immediate action to address the lack of competition in the industry that fuels incidents like the now infamous Dr. David Dao video being violently removed from a United flight. 

“It is time for Congress to step in and restore consumers’ rights in the airline industry,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg, who testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security. “Only through Congressional action can American consumers be assured that the next time they fly, they won’t become the unwitting star of their own viral airline video.”

Read Greenberg’s full testimony here.

The consumer group blamed unchecked consolidation for an environment characterized by anti-consumer practices, policies, and experiences. Since airlines were deregulated in the late 1970’s, there have been no fewer than 40 airline mergers. Currently, more than 80 percent of domestic flights are controlled by four major airlines. 

“The near-complete lack of competition has enabled U.S. air carriers to worry more about profits and less about customer service and consumer rights,” said Greenberg. “Although recent headlines have shined a spotlight on the airlines’ most egregious practices, frequent air travelers were already familiar with how anti-consumer the industry has become.”

Unchecked consolidation has led to higher prices, fewer flights, worse service, and the rise of excessive fees for things like baggage, cancellation, seat selection, and other services that were at one time free to customers. The major airlines are raking in record profits–in 2015, the biggest airlines brought in $14.69 billion in ancillary revenue. Consumers are increasingly powerless in the airline marketplace and have been forced to suffer from a decrease in comfort and amenities, with shrinking seats, aisles, and bathrooms.

Before the Senate, Greenberg called for Congress to take action and implement a Passenger Bill of Rights, strengthen consumer protections, and require airlines to justify fees and reverse the trend of “unbundling” services. To read her full testimony, click here.

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL disappointed by President Trump’s appointments of Teresa Manning and Charmaine Yoest to key HHS positions – National Consumers League

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May 2, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer organization, founded in 1899, joins our colleagues in the women’s and reproductive health communities in expressing grave concerns about President Trump’s appointment of Teresa Manning to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In this HHS position, Manning, a former lobbyist with the National Right to Life Committee and legislative analyst for the conservative Family Research Council, will be in charge of the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) and the Title X National Family Planning Program, the nation’s only dedicated source of federal funding for family planning. The Title X program supports high-quality, culturally sensitive family planning services and other preventive health care for millions of low-income, under-insured and uninsured individuals who may otherwise lack access to health care.

“It is inexcusable for the President to appoint an anti-choice and avowed opponent of birth control to head the office responsible for overseeing the Title X program. Teresa Manning has a long history of attacking contraception, calling family planning ‘something that occurs between a husband and a wife and God.’ Appointing Teresa Manning to head OPA is tantamount to putting a fox in charge of the hen house,” said NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Unfortunately, Manning’s appointment is yet another example of the Trump Administration’s anti-woman agenda.” 

Additionally, just last week, President Trump appointed Charmaine Yoest, the former President and CEO of the anti-choice group Americans United for Life, to the position of HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. “We know that the best way to reduce abortion is to provide universal free birth control. Rather than protecting and promoting women’s reproductive health, however, the Trump Administration is dead set on rolling back the clock on the health and well-being of our nation’s women,” said Greenberg.    

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

NCL statement on 3-2 CPSC vote on mandatory safety standard for table saws – National Consumers League

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April 28, 2017

 Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and labor advocacy organization, is greatly encouraged by the vote yesterday at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to move forward on a mandatory safety standard for table saws (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking). 

The following statement may be attributed to Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League:

“This issue has been before the CPSC for over 14 years when the Commission was first petitioned by developers of safety technology asking it to require that all table saws be designed with some form of Active Injury Mitigation technology or AIM[1].  Since that time, NCL has led the effort to get a safety standard enacted. The marketplace has failed to deliver safe designs for all table saws and the current voluntary standard requiring guards over the blades has failed to reduce the rate of injury. [2]

In 2015, there were an estimated 33,400 table saw, emergency department-treated injuries. Table saws inflict 11 amputations each day, according to the CPSC’s accident reporting system. These are agonizingly painful injuries that cause lifelong debilitation and often, many expensive surgeries to treat. Technology in use today, and other technologies that have yet to be introduced into the marketplace, could all but eliminate these devastating injuries. NCL itself has been pressing for action for years. In November 2010, NCL wrote to then-Chairman of the CPSC, Inez Tenenbaum, asking the Commission to address the hazards associated with table saws. Indeed, the CPSC, in a 5-0 vote in October 2011, supported the first regulatory step toward a federal safety standard in support of an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

Yesterday’s 3-2 vote gets us closer to a final rule requiring that all table saws be built with Active Injury Mitigation technology. NCL applauds Commissioners Adler and Kaye for their eloquent statements and longtime efforts to get this measure adopted. We thank the CPSC staff as well for years of work, including the Commission’s engineers, economists, statisticians, and human factors experts. We applaud the finding that the benefits of AIM technology will greatly outweigh the costs.  The benefits estimated in the CPSC package range from $2.3 million to $2.45 billion.

Although three Commissioners voted in support of moving forward toward a final rule, we regret that several amendments were added to require additional, and unnecessary in our view, staff work on the rule.

The very purpose of the Consumer Product Safety Commission is to protect consumers and prevent injury when the market isn’t addressing these problems. We therefore regret that two CPSC Commissioners, faced with overwhelming evidence of these devastating injuries and technology to fix the problem for a reasonable cost, voted against protecting consumers and preventing injuries.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

[1] in 2003, the developers of table saw safety technology petitioned the Commission asking that all table saws implement injury prevention technology.

[2] CPSC staff concludes that there is no discernible change in the number of blade-contact injuries or types of injuries related to table saw blade contact from the timespan before the voluntary standard was implemented (2004- 2009) to the time span after the implementation of the voluntary standard requiring the riving knife and modular blade guard on all table saws (2010-2015).

The Financial CHOICE ACT of 2017 is the wrong choice for consumers – National Consumers League

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April 26, 2017

Media contact: NCL Communications, Cindy Hoang, cindyh@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—Today, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is convening a hearing to discuss the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017. This anti-consumer legislation aims to revoke all of the protections Dodd-Frank provided consumers after Wall Street’s reckless behavior created the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The National Consumers League (NCL) urges all members of Congress to oppose this legislation which would make consumers vulnerable to another market collapse, and irrevocably weaken the nation’s strongest financial cop on the beat.

The following statement can be attributed to NCL’s Executive Director Sally Greenberg:

“The Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 is the wrong choice for consumers. Supporters of the bill claim that it will provide consumers with more choices and hold Wall Street accountable. This is simply not true. This legislation will in fact do just the opposite by allowing Wall Street to once again participate in the very practices that caused the collapse of 2008. The Financial Choice Act would also rob the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) of its independent funding structure, and make it dependent on the highly politicized appropriations process where the very entities it is supposed to watch over, can buy influence over members of Congress.”

“If robbing the CFPB of its independence was not enough, this legislation will also prevent the CFPB from protecting consumers against unfair mandatory arbitration, end its jurisdiction over big banks, prevent the Bureau from stopping deceptive or abusive practices, and enable unscrupulous actors to hide from their bad behavior by eradicating the CFPB’s public consumer complaint database.”

“This legislation is not meant to provide more choices for consumers, it is meant to allow unethical banks to partake in practices that hurt consumers. Since the creation of the CFPB, the Bureau has done its job and done it well. The CFPB has returned $11.8 billion to 29 million cheated consumers. It has enacted numerous common sense protections and disclosures to make borrowing money safer for consumers, and it has ensured that the 1 million consumers who filed complaints with the Bureau reached the resolution they deserve. I urge all members of Congress to oppose this anti-consumer legislation and stand with the CFPB.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.