Food Safety Bill Goes to House Floor – National Consumers League

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by Amos Budde, NCL Policy Intern

Once again, news from Capitol Hill:  The House Energy and Commerce committee held a full committee markup on the Food and Safety Enhancement Act yesterday, and it was unanimously adopted and to be sent to the House for a full vote.  Each year, 76 million Americans suffer foodborne illnesses; 5,000 die.  After the recent food scares and recalls of peanut butter, spinach, beef, berries, pet food, tomato products, and more, restoring confidence in the safety of our food supply has finally become a priority in Congress.  This bill aims to fix the gaps in our regulatory system, so that consumers can be sure that their food is safe to eat.

The Food Safety Enhancement Act gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) much-needed regulatory authority in a variety of areas, including:

  • Registering food facilities – All food producers in the US must register with the FDA and pay a $500 registration fee that will fund the new safety measures.
  • More inspections – “High risk” food facilities will be inspected every 6 – 18 months.  Many of these facilities are currently inspected only once per decade!
  • Electronic traceability – Food producers must have a “trace back” and “trace forward” system to track of where food is coming from and going to.
  • Giving the FDA more enforcement bite – The bill substantially increases fines for noncompliance with safety legislation.
  • Mandatory recalls – The FDA did not have the authority to do so previously; with the passage of this bill, they will.

The FDA will now be better able to detect problems when they arise and then respond more quickly and effectively.  Follow *this link for a more in-depth look at the bill’s contents.

The most encouraging thing about this new approach is that stakeholders from all sides of the debate are coming together to support this bill.  Both Democrats and Republicans in the committee shared personal stories about how food poisoning or other illnesses had affected their own lives and those of their constituents.  Agricultural corporations and organizations like the *Grocery Manufacturers of America recognize that food safety concerns were costing industries hundreds of millions of dollars each time a recall was required.

To build consensus and get broad support, the legislation failed to address some important issues, such as the extensive use of human antibiotics in livestock.  *Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) offered an amendment on this issue, and while Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) said he sympathized with Schakowsky, he noted that the issue was not being addressed because it was too controversial.

In what will certainly be a contentious year for the Energy and Commerce Committee, (it has to produce both the Climate Change and Health Care Reform legislation) it seemed like the members were enjoying yesterday’s bipartisanship.  As long as this bill remains free of deal-breakers, it should soon become law.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Momentous Bill to Regulate Tobacco – National Consumers League

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By Amos Budde, NCL Public Policy Intern

Amos Budde is a rising senior and Mathematics major at Brown University, also studying Economics and Public Policy. He hails from Minneapolis, MN and is excited to be working on consumer rights issues with the National Consumers League.

There was strong bipartisan support for consumer rights last week, as both the Senate and the House passed legislation by wide margins allowing the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco. President Obama has said he intends to sign the bill.

Tobacco has long been a hold-out in the regulatory system, as tobacco companies have spent millions each year lobbying against FDA regulation. Meanwhile, smoking continues to be linked to 400,000 deaths annually and results in enormous medical costs for the treatment of smoking-related illnesses. While smoking will never be part of a healthy lifestyle, we consumers will now be better able to tell what ingredients are in tobacco products, and the FDA will work to ensure that the inclusion of dangerous chemicals is limited to a safe amount.

Congress will also give the FDA strict rules on the marketing of tobacco, especially to adolescents. Candy and sweet flavoring in tobacco products will be banned, and tobacco companies can no longer use words such as “light,” or “low” that suggest that the products are less dangerous. Check out Project Vote Smart to learn more about some of the major provisions of the bill.

This is all welcome news. Tobacco companies in the past have offered to voluntarily curb their marketing to teens, but these efforts have failed to reduce the number of under-age smokers. This bill provides comprehensive reform on the relationship between tobacco companies and consumers, and will allow us more informed decisions when it comes to using tobacco.

Interestingly, tobacco giant Phillip Morris has been a staunch supporter of the new rules and regulations, while smaller rivals have been opposed. Increased regulation will be a larger burden on smaller tobacco companies, and a restriction on advertisement makes it difficult for new brands to enter the market. This allows the already popular Philip Morris brands to benefit from reduced competition, and democrats and republicans alike have benefited from having such a powerful corporate ally in a bill to regulate tobacco.

While this is a landmark moment for consumer rights, it will still require active review of the lobbying efforts of Phillip Morris and other tobacco companies. Now that the power is with the FDA, we need to make sure the regulation still focuses on the consumer.  Keeping us safe and able to make informed decisions should be the FDA’s top priority.

Consumer Advocates Crossing the Atlantic – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

Over the past few days I’ve been participating in the annual Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, or TACD in Brussels. The organization is celebrating its 10 year anniversary, these days bringing together more than 80 consumer organizations, from both the American and European sides, to discuss issues jointly and press international officials on their responses to a range of consumer concerns. On the European side, 31 countries participated with the group “BEUC” acting as the European umbrella consumer organization.

TACD was launched by consumer advocates on both sides of the Atlantic as a way of balancing the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue. TACD has proved a valuable tool for advancing the consumer cause internationally. In Brussels, consumers had a day of meetings, consulted with one another about joint concerns, shared our respective legislative or administrative initiatives, and planned for our meetings with government officials. On the second day, we talked with these officials and shared questions and concerns. From the United States, we met with representatives from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the FDA, and the FTC stationed in Brussels. On our last evening, we were invited to the American mission in Brussels for a reception and a meeting with the top American officer, the Charge d’Affaires Christopher Murray.

On our agenda were many current pressing consumer issues, including financial services, advertising to children, global warming, food safety, nanotechnology, product safety, and intellectual property concerns.

Sadly, when the American economy goes south, markets across the globe are brought down with it. With the world’s economy in a tailspin and unemployment rates up higher than they’ve been in decades, the condition of the banking systems in Europe and the United States has greater significance than it has in many decades.  Consumer advocates at TACD talked at length about efforts to learn from this economic crisis – a crisis that has reduced by 40 percent the value of retirement and college savings. We are keenly aware that our system collapsed under the weight of an array of risky financial products and faulty mortgages in the areas of the American banking system that are lacking in proper regulation. We all discussed strategies for putting better protections in place for consumers.

Another issue growing in importance to consumers is nanotechnology, the use of tiny particles now found many of the products consumers use daily – sunscreen lotions, lipstick, baby powders. We don’t really know what the effect of these nano products might be on our safety and health, and consumer advocates are concerned that our product safety agencies don’t have the expertise or resources to properly study these effects. So much work is needed here in the coming years.

During my decade-plus of working on consumer issues, learning about what other countries are doing on financial protections, product safety, or any other consumer issue is extremely valuable. It tells us that something we are asking for is possible, and regulation and consumer protections won’t bring down an entire industry, as our adversaries sometimes argue.

Among the comments I’ll remember from the conference, here are two of my favorites: Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, predicted that the next 10 years – with a new administration in Washington and a far more consumer friendly Congress – would be the “decade of the consumer.” Monique Goyens, the charming new head of BEUC, told TACD that consumer advocacy was far more than simply educating consumers and expecting them to know how to protect their interests. Complicated documents with many pages of fine print or hard to understand safety manuals are unacceptable. Goyens closed with this: “being a consumer shouldn’t be a full time job.”  I couldn’t agree more. TACD is a valuable tool for addressing risks consumers face in a global economy.

Busy Time for NCL’s Telecom Work – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

The past several days have seen two important developments for NCL’s work on behalf of telecommunications consumers.  First, we are proud to announce that the FCC has appointed the National Consumers League to its Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC).  Representing NCL on the CAC will be NCL Board member Debra Berlyn, who will be continuing in her role as CAC Chair.  Debbie had previously represented the DTV Transition Coalition at the CAC.  The FCC’s official notice of the appointment is available *here.

The Consumer Advisory Committee was originally chartered by the FCC in 2000 (then known as the “Consumer/Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee”) to provide advice to the Commission on issues pertaining to access for people with disabilities to telecommunications technologies, consumer education and protection, and improving consumer participation in the FCC’s rulemaking processes.  Now in its fifth term, the CAC continues to provide advice to the FCC on a range of consumer issues.  We are extremely pleased that the Commission has appointed NCL to the CAC and grateful to Debbie for agreeing to represent NCL at the CAC meetings.

The second important development in NCL’s telecom work was our filing of *comments in the FCC’s *Notice of Inquiry for the Commission’s national broadband plan.  The Notice was issued in response to requirements in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA — the much-ballyhooed “stimulus” bill), which directed the FCC to submit a national broadband plan to Congress by February 2010.  This effort will effectively frame the FCC’s policy with regards to the nation’s broadband infrastructure for years to come.  As such, hundreds of interest groups from the private sector, organized labor, government, and non-profit communities filed comments.   The main points in our comments include:

  • The National Broadband Plan should encourage robust competition – The one-constant in broadband going forward is that consumers will want more of it, at faster speeds, and accessible on a variety of devices.
  • Broadband access should be affordable – Universal access is insufficient if that access is unaffordable.  Broadband is as essential to life in the 21st century as electricity was in the 20th.  The national broadband plan should seek to keep rates affordable for low-income consumers.
  • Broadband should help create jobs – The ARRA places great emphasis on the job-creation potential of broadband and associated programs such as broadband mapping.  Special emphasis should be placed on innovative public-private partnerships that help to create jobs.
  • Innovative solutions that reduce the Digital Divide should be encouraged – Broadband solutions that help connect difficult-to-reach audiences should be encouraged.  In particular wireless broadband solutions (including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and 3G cellular technology) connecting low-income consumers should be explored.  Tele-health programs should include strict measures of quality to ensure low-income users benefit.
  • Basic consumer protections should be safeguarded – Consumers should have greater control over the information they share online.  Anti-competitive business practices such as mandatory binding arbitration clauses should be restricted and anti-fraud provisions should be strengthened.

To read NCL’s full comments, *click here.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Much-Needed Sick Leave Protections for Workers – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

The New Deal laws that were developed and enacted during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) represent the framework of the social safety net that protects so many Americans today: minimum wage requirements and limits on hours workers can forced to toil; unemployment insurance for workers laid off through no fault of their own; Social Security benefits for older Americans that keep many from poverty or starvation. The New Deal accomplished so much, and yet, the women who ran the National Consumers League and their allies – like FDR and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins – were frustrated that they could not achieve universal health coverage for all Americans.

Surely they would have been staunch proponents of providing minimal protections for working Americans to have access to paid sick leave. There’s a renewed campaign afoot to provide this basic protection for working Americans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost half of full-time, private-sector workers have no sick days at all. Government data also shows a *national trend toward a reduction in paid sick days. Research from The Project on Global Working Families at Harvard University found 139 nations provide paid days for short or long-term illnesses.

57 million Americans – nearly 50 percent of all private-sector workers in the United States – don’t have paid sick days. According to an ACORN survey conducted in March 2007, 50 of the largest retailers, more than don’t provide sick leave to their hourly employees. Workers need about seven sick days each year to manage their own health care. But for almost half of U.S. employees, the absence of sick pay is likely to cause them loss of income, a job or advancement, says the National Partnership for Women & Families.

So what happens when workers don’t get sick days? They go to work when they are ill, and they expose their customers and co-workers to their germs. Or they miss work and risk losing their jobs, and even if they don’t get fired, they lose a day’s (or more) pay. The consequences of a lack of paid sick days include health effects, workplace contagion, reduced productivity, turnover costs, poor recovery from illness and surgery, and increased use of healthcare resources.

ACORN, which is leading the charge for paid sick days, says almost half of working women say they must miss work when a child becomes ill, and almost half of those lose pay. Statistics show that children who lack a parent to stay home with them during their illness take longer to recover.

There are currently no federal protections to cover workers who need to take sick leave. The U.S. Family & Medical Leave Act enacted in 1993 provides only unpaid days for serious illness. There is currently no federal law guaranteeing a single day of paid sick leave to workers.

Economists estimate that “Presenteeism,” or employees who come to work sick, costs employers an average of $255 per employee per year and that American businesses lose $180 billion per year in productivity due to sickness in the workplace.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced the Healthy Families Act to address the need to provide a minimum of sick leave days for American workers.

The Healthy Families Act would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide seven paid sick days to care for their own and their families medical needs, benefiting 66 million Americans: 46 million would gain access to paid sick days; 19 million would gain paid sick days for leave for doctors visits and family care; and 1 million Americans would gain additional paid sick days.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that the Healthy Families Act would result in a net savings, after covering costs of paid leave, of $8 billion per year.  Such savings are generated by reducing presenteeism, reducing employee turnover and preventing the spread of the flu.

The Healthy Families Act, HR 2460 in the House, has 105 co-sponsors. The early leaders of the NCL, who fought so hard for wage and hours protections for workers, surely would have supported this common-sense bill, and we at NCL today do as well. Workers who are ill shouldn’t have to decide whether to take their illness into the workplace or to stay home and risk losing their job – and a day’s pay. We call on members of Congress to support the Health Families Act and take a stand both for worker protections and for the health of America’s families.

Both *NPWF and ACORN are taking a lead in Congress on sick pay legislation.  In addition, the Center for Economic and Policy Research has a great deal of useful research and information on this important issue.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Health Reform – For the Health of the People and the Economy – National Consumers League

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by Mimi Johnson, NCL Health Policy Associate

All signs point to health reform happening in time for Congress to take their August recess.   It will be a busy two months in this town, but everyone agrees that SOMETHING has to happen … if only we could figure out what that something will look like.

In a *paper released last week, Obama’s economic advisors outlined a few of the main ways in which health care costs link to the economy, and how fixing the health care system can help fix the economy.

The Administration outlines just how our broken health care system hurts our workforce; we currently burden small employers with skyrocketing costs for covering their employees, lock workers to jobs for fear of losing health benefits, and have a workforce unable to be as productive as possible because of their health.

We were also excited to see that the President is supportive of efforts to engage and educate consumers.  The National Consumers League is committed to educating consumers about their health and the tools available to help manage it.  There is increasing evidence of the cost savings and improved health outcomes when a consumer is educated and engaged in their health care.

Because there are so many players vested in the outcome, there are a lot of competing ideas about how best to approach reform.  In fact, even those on the same side cannot always agree.  Yesterday, President Obama hosted Senators Kennedy (chair of the Senate’s HELP – Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – Committee) and Baucus (chair of the Senate’s Finance Committee) to try to find some common ground.  As follow-up to the meeting, President Obama released a letter to Senators Kennedy and Baucus reiterating his commitment to reform, including:

  • ensuring quality and affordable health care for all Americans – offering choices, an insurance exchange, and a public plan
  • managing chronic care
  • promoting best practices
  • sharing responsibility – including for the cost of coverage
  • working towards a more effective, efficient, and quality-driven system

We’re pounding the marble on the Hill, trying to get our voice heard.  If you can’t make it to Washington, here are some other good ways to stay informed and be heard:

Stay tuned throughout the summer for additional updates!

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

School May Be out, But LifeSmarts Lessons Are Always in Session – National Consumers League

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by Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts Program Director

Students across the country are sprinting toward the school year finish line. We feel confident that the consumer smarts that LifeSmarts participants gained this year will stay with them, and won’t get thrown in the dumpster along with their biology notes on the last day of school.

While participating in LifeSmarts, students learned about their rights as workers, which will help ensure that they are treated fairly at their summer jobs this year. For a quick refresher, check this out. LifeSmarts students also know that some jobs are inherently dangerous, and before accepting a summer job they will check out which jobs to avoid at NCL’s “*Five Worst Summer Jobs.”

When they get their first paycheck, LifeSmarts students they will pay themselves by putting some earnings directly into savings. This will help them work toward goals they’ve established, such as purchasing a car, saving for prom, or saving for post-secondary education. To learn, visit the LifeSmarts Financial Literacy Pilot.

Summer is the time to get more activity in their lives, and LifeSmarts students will follow the advice of sites like *this one. While staying active outdoors, they will be sure to wear the appropriate sunscreen (for a quick review here), and follow the *Consumer Product Safety Commission’s tips to keep themselves and others safe.

Summer is certainly a welcome time to shift gears, and we want to wish everyone a safe and fun summer!

The LifeSmarts Spring Training site remains open through June 15, but then LifeSmarts also goes on a summer schedule. Summer is our opportunity to refresh the LifeSmarts Web site, retire questions, update the questions in the online competition and practice areas, and get new materials ready for educators and students to use when they check us out again in August or September. (Coaches and students can register again beginning August 1, and students may compete beginning September 14, 2009.)

To everyone involved with LifeSmarts this year – thank you for another wonderful year!

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Downey’s Perkins Bio a Must-Read – National Consumers League

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by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

It’s rare for me to read a work of nonfiction that is a page turner, but I’m reading such a book right now. It’s the new biography of nation’s first female cabinet member and Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. The author is the former Washington Post business reporter Kirsten Downey, and she has produced a riveting biographical sketch of Perkins, who changed her name from Fannie to Frances because she thought the latter was more dignified. I didn’t want the book to end; I pored over each chapter as though I was reading a work of great suspense, eager for the next chapter.

The book title is “Woman Behind the New Deal – The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of  Labor and His Moral Conscience,” and it’s written with clarity and filled with valuable nuggets of information, has a feminist perspective, and includes a unique perspective that is not found in the usual accounts of this New Deal era.

The National Consumers League figures large in the life of Frances Perkins. Florence Kelley, the League’s first leader, spoke at Perkins’ college, Mt. Holyoke, in 1902, and Perkins was captivated by this powerful orator. Kelley spoke about her new organization, the National Consumers League, and its efforts to eradicate child labor and eliminate sweatshops. Kelley was fiery, energetic, and filled with idealism. Perkins, after graduating from college, ran the League’s New York chapter, focusing on four areas: poor conditions in cellar bakeries, long hours and poor wages for children, child labor, and workplace fire hazards.

Shopgirls suffered some of the worst conditions working for Bloomingdales, Altman’s  and Macy’s: they worked very long hours (14-16 hours) for very low pay. While lobbying for the League, Perkins developed a friendship with Former President Teddy Roosevelt, who endorsed the NCL’s efforts to restrict child labor in a letter he allowed Perkins’ to circulate widely.

Again, while lobbying for the League in Albany, Perkins became acquainted with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When he was elected president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor. Perkins went on to serve all of FDR’s four terms – the last was cut short by his untimely death – but FDR so relied on and trusted Perkins he rejected her offers to resign as Labor Secretary. All the while, her fellow cabinet members – all male – mocked her style of speaking and were jealous of her close relationship to FDR.

Perkins is responsible for so much more than any of us probably realize. That is why Downey’s book title is so apt. As labor secretary, Perkins worked to pass unemployment insurance, Social Security, and the law setting wage and hour restrictions known as the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In an interesting historical twist, Downey suggests that Perkins was probably also responsible, indirectly, for the election of Harry Truman as president, once he ran on his own after serving out FDR’s aborted final term. Perkins persuaded Eleanor Roosevelt to endorse Truman, something she had been reluctant to do because she was unhappy that the new president had let Perkins go as Labor Secretary in his new cabinet. Eleanor thought it was important to have a woman in the cabinet.

But Perkins prevailed on Eleanor, who was a highly respected democrat in 1948 whose voice carried a lot of weight, to make a strong appeal to democrats to support Truman for President. As history reminds us, this was a very close race between Truman and Thomas Dewey, so much so that newspapers called the election for Dewey. Eleanor’s voice probably turned the tide of history and resulted in Truman’s ultimate victory.

Downey brings out aspects of Perkins’ life (her husband was bi-polar, couldn’t work for much of his life, spending many years in an institution, and her daughter suffered from mental illness as well) and career that have been missing in other biographies of the first female labor secretary. Perkins soldiered on, never allowing prejudices to hold her back.

Today we have another female labor secretary, Hilda Solis, who works at DOL in the federal building named for Frances Perkins and is supportive of the needs and concerns of working men and women. This book is a timely and invaluable contribution to our understanding of the New Deal and programs intended to provide that social safety net that made America a model for the rest of the world.

This Week in Consumer Policy – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Recent weeks have been historic ones for consumers from a public policy perspective.  On Wednesday, June 20, President Obama signed in to law two pieces of legislation designed to protect consumers from predatory lending in the housing market – the Helping Families Save their Home Act and the *Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act.   Scarcely 48 hours later, the President signed an even more far-reaching piece of pro-consumer legislation, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD Act).  NCL was *at the White House to witness history and celebrate these hard-won victories.   After nearly a decade of playing defense on consumer protection in Washington, it seems like the pendulum is finally swinging back in consumers’ favor.

As the nation’s oldest consumer organization, we’ve seen our fair share of the daily back-and-forth that characterizes the way that public policy is crafted in Washington.  To outsiders, the process can often seem mind-numbingly confusing in its complexity.  To address this issue, we’d like to occasionally highlight the most important consumer issues bubbling up here in Washington and attempt to explain how they can affect consumers.

The legislation noted above is hugely significant, making consumers better off than they were before these laws went into effect.  However, there is much work to be done.  This week, Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess to face a host of consumer issues.   Highlights include:

  • FTC Business Opportunity Rule Workshop – Monday, June 1, 9:00 AM – The day-long public workshop will explore proposed changes to the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule, requiring that companies selling business opportunities (such as franchises)  provide a one-page Business Opportunity Disclosure Form to prospective purchasers.   Information to help consumers and businesses avoid business opportunity fraud is available from the FTC by clicking here.
  • Legislative hearing on the discussion draft of the Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009 – Wednesday, June 3 , 10:00 AM –  Coming on the heels of the a rash of food safety scare involving salmonella in peanut products, melamine in milk, and E coli in spinach, this bill would increase the oversight authority of the Food and Drug Administration and give the agency additional resources to carry out this increased oversight role (*click here for a bill summary and click here for additional analysis from The Washington Post).  Health Subcommittee of House Energy and Commerce Committee, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building.
  • *FCC Open Commission Meeting Focuses on DTV Transition – Wednesday, June 3, 9:30 AM – The FCC’s meeting will include presentations by the agency, industry, and consumer groups involved in the DTV transition.  In February, NCL supported the DTV Delay Act, which moved the deadline for analog-broadcast shutoff to June 12.  NCL is a member of the DTV Transition Coalition.
  • Senate Commerce Committee Hearing: “GM And Chrysler Dealership Closures: Protecting Dealers And Consumers” – Wednesday, June 3, 2:30 PM – The announced closure of more than 4,300 Chrylser and GM dealerships over the next two years will have a big impact on local communities, jobs, and broadcast and print journalism (dealers are among the largest local advertisers).  In addition, millions of Chrysler and GM cars currently on the road will continue to need to be serviced.  These closures will have an impact on consumers looking to these dealerships for that service. Click here for additional information.

As you can see, this week is shaping up to be a busy one for consumer advocates!  If you know of an event that we missed, please feel free to email me at johnb@nclnet.org.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

White House Welcomes Consumer Groups for Historic Bill Signings – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

On two occasions this week, consumer groups were invited to the White House to witness President Barack Obama’s historic signing of legislation intended to protect the interests of consumers and homeowners. I was lucky enough to attend both events. On Wednesday, the President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and *The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. These bills are intended to crack down on those who seek to take advantage of homeowners through fraud and other abuses. On Friday, the President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act, a new law that will rein in some of the worst abuses of the credit card industry and help to restore the balance between consumers using their credit cards responsibly and the credit card industry’s obligation to treat their customers fairly, and not hiking up rates without notice, backdating interest on old balances, or changing terms, in the words on your credit card contract, “anytime for any reason.” I have lived and worked as a consumer advocate in Washington for more than a decade and had never been to a White House bill signing.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Several years ago consumer and safety advocates worked hard to persuade the Bush Administration to celebrate the signing into law of the *Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, which will protect toddlers especially from being backed over and killed when they run behind their parents’ car and cannot be seen because of blind areas behind the vehicle. The act sets a standard for rearward visibility in all cars. Unfortunately, we couldn’t manage to get a public signing at the White House for the many parents whose children had died or been injured, and who would have welcomed the opportunity to celebrate passage of this bill.

But the Obama Administration has reached out to consumer advocates in a new and important way that we hope will benefit the millions of consumers whose interests we try hard to protect each day. About a month ago, nine or so consumer organizations met with White House staff to discuss a range of issues, from product safety, to credit card legislation, homeowner protections, energy prices, access to the courts, and important appointments to agencies that provide consumer protection and enforce health and safety laws. We brought with us our platform of six issues that the groups had issued last December.

Attending an event at the White House is a heady experience. As my 91-year-old father pointed out recently, having the chance to be part of an event with a standing president is a significant honor. Yet there we were, mixing on Wednesday in the East Room with Senators, Representatives, cabinet secretaries, the President’s own staff, and discussing the important protections these bills would provide for homeowners and on Friday, in the Rose Garden, ten or so consumer representatives – who had fought for these provisions for a number of years, and brought with them individual consumers who had endured terrible experiences with credit cards – one woman’s son had committed suicide when faced with mounting debt on his credit cards. I watched the President listen to her story and give her a hug afterwards.

The President on Wednesday spoke eloquently about both the trials that homeowners face when confronted with the possibility of losing their homes – and the fraud thousands have faced at the hands of unscrupulous businesses, and on Friday talked with compassion about those consumers who never expected to confront mounting debt on the credit cards but had lost a job or faced a health care crisis. The bill will provide, in the President’s words, “common-sense reforms designed to protect consumers.”

Under the new law: *credit card issuers will be required to tell card holders how long it will take to pay off a balance and what it will cost in interest if they only make the minimum monthly payments; retroactive rate hikes that appear on a bill “suddenly with no rhyme or reason” will be barred, Obama said; companies will have to post their agreements online; consumers will have to mail statements 21 days before payment is due, instead of 14; shifting payment dates will be prohibited; and 45 days’ notice will be required for changes in terms and conditions.

Some estimates say that the average household debt by credit cardholders who carry a balance is around $17,000. The White House said that every year, Americans pay around $15 billion in penalty fees. Nearly 80 percent of American families have a credit card, and 44 percent of families carry a balance on their credit cards. President Obama also pointed out that this bill is a good balance, and said the changes were not intended to encourage reckless spending. For the White House Fact Sheet on the bill, click *here.

Consumer advocates hope that this week is a watershed, opening the way to a new era in which Congress and the White House are, after a long dry spell and a painful economic downturn, feeling the pain that the average American is experiencing and are trying at last to level the playing field so that the average consumer gets a fair shake. We at the National Consumers League welcome this new way of doing business.

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.