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Obama's hold and review order will NOT delay implementation of the CPSIA. It's truly frightening how little people understand about the limited power of a President.
The CPSIA is a LAW. Presidents neither make and pass laws nor do they pull them off the lawbooks and make them 'non-laws.' They can help write laws, encourage Congress to write them, promote them, and they can sign the finished law or veto it. That's it. CONGRESS writes and passes the laws (that's why it's called the legislative branch)- the president only signs them, or not. Once signed, he can't nullify it, overturn it, cancel it, or alter it in any way.
The CPSIA is a law that was written, promoted, and put to the vote by a Democratic Congress who then presented then President Bush with a filibuster proof majority, so he signed it. New Presidents CANNOT simply nullify laws that Congress has already passed and previous Presidents signed. This is highly illegal and he simply can't do it.
What Presidents can do, and generally do- when they take office is to put on hold all the most recent regulations, orders, administrative rulings- the sorts of things which are NOT laws and which Congress did not vote on and pass and a President sign. An example of a recent regulation would be the Commission's exemption of unadulterated textiles such as wool, silk, and cotton from the testing requirements That has now been put on hold.
An example of the regulations that President Obama's 'hold and review' order covers would be, in fact, anything the Commission has said or done. This is why it is monumentally important NOT to let Waxman pull the wool (dyed or otherwise) over your eyes and convince you that the Commission is the only agency that can help you. They can't help at all. They can't delay the February 10th deadline- ONLY Waxman can do anything about that by calling a committee meeting of other Congresscritters and voting on it. He's lying when he tells callers that Nord can help.
The Commission is supposed to have three members. They only have two because the Democrat controlled congress refused to seat the third member, a Bush appointee. Instead, Congress voted to 'temporarily' accept the two member commission as authorized to make decisions- they deliberately left that commission undermanned while increasing their workload tenfold.
Congress, recognizing perfectly well that two people is not enough to do the job, ALSO enacted, as part of the CPSIA, a new requirement that at a certain time (I believe it's August), the two member Commission would become a FIVE member commission. President Obama has the authority to appoint five members, but even then, Congress has to approve them. He doesn't have authority to overturn the law. He doesn't have the authority to decide that the Commission will only be three members or should be six.
Waxman understands this all perfectly well. He understands, better than many small crafters, that anything the Commission says has an expiration date anyway, that previously when they have tried to rule favorably to small businesses (making the phthalates ban NOT apply to existing inventory), Congress (in the person of Barbara Boxer) and special interest groups (not, in this case, corporate bogeymen) have lashed out at the Commission and insisted they have no authority to do this, and the phthalates ban must apply to existing inventory.
When his office tells you he can't help, you must contact the Commission and Nancy Nord- he is laughing up his sleeve. He is disrespecting your intelligence and assuming you are ignorant of the facts (hopes you are, in fact). Anybody who sends you after Nancy Nord instead of the Congressman is dismissing you and sending you on a rabbit chase, or bought the empty rhetoric of Waxman's office themselves. The ONLY significant help small businesses can receive right now is for Waxman himself to listen to and act on the letter from Barton and Radonovich.
As they explained to him (but Waxman hopes you don't know):
"...even if the CPSC devotes full staff attention and moves at the most expeditious speed, it will be unable to issue the necessary guidance prior to Feb. 10 without violating Federal rulemaking requirements."
They also explained to Waxman:
"by simply delaying the imposition of pending CPSC action to work our way through this problem we can save many jobs and ensure that toys are safe."
But there's only one way the pending CPSC action can be delayed- and it's not through President Obama (HE CANNOT OVERTURN LAW):
"...the first step toward providing prudent and effective relief is for our Committee to conduct a hearing so everyone involved can explore the facts for themselves, understand the urgency, and coalesce around a solution."
The Committee must conduct a hearing. Only Waxman can call such a Committee meeting. Only Congress can act in a meaningful way to fix the problems with this bill. Nancy Nord and her Commission of two cannot- and whatever they say can and likely would be changed by the new members of the Commission when Obama appoints them.
Henry Waxman, and Waxman alone, can act to call that important meeting of the Committee he heads. There is nothing Republicans can do but pester him with letters (which does not mean it's not a good idea to encourage them to pester him with letters). There is nothing Nancy Nord can do- although personally, I think it would be a good idea to write her and THANK her for putting up with Waxman's demonizing her over his bad law. There is nothing that President Obama can do other than a apply a little moral suasion and political strong-arming (and it's not a bad idea to write him and ask him to play some of that charismatic political capital), but if Waxman doesn't call a Committee meeting, I don't think the President can force one, so every contact with somebody else needs to be bolstered by contact with Waxman's office, and needs to focus on asking those other people to persuade Waxman to do the right thing. DO NOT let him keep up the deception that this is a Commission problem.
Henry Waxman and the Committee on Energy and Commerce MUST MEET and push back the Feb. 10th deadline. ONLY they can.
Contacts:
Henry A. Waxman
California-30th, Democrat
2204 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0530
Phone: (202) 225-3976
http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/htbin/formproc_za/waxman/zip_authen.txt&form=/waxman/email.htm
Read. This. Post. All of it. Pay attention to the addresses and suggestions at the bottom.
Updated with further thoughts:
Really, it appears to me that only Waxman can act at this point- unless there's some other way the House Committee on Energy and Commerce can be called to meet. So I've been thinking of other things to do to try to convince Waxman to have this committee meeting.
Is he married? Contact his wife. Contact the President (who cannot change the law or call the committee meeting but could try to persuade Waxman to do so). Contact Michelle Obama and ask her to persuade her husband to persuade Waxman to call the meeting. Call Obama's chief of staff (who, regrettably, is one of the co-sponsors of the CPSIA), the media, Waxman himself, and particularly other members of the the very powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce- especially if your own rep sits on that Committee, and call your own reps- call, write, email them all and beg them to pressure Waxman to call a Committee meaning and postpone the Feb. 10th deadline and discuss some more sane ways to protect children without testing five thousand samples from the same bolt of fabric, etc, etc.
Here's a list of the members on the Committee of Energy and Commerce:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Commerce_Committee#Members.2C_111th_Congress
See Walter Olson's post at Overlawyered, as well.
He suggests also trying Waxman's Senate counterparts. I'm embarrassingly ignorant here, is that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, or some other Committee?
I may have more later tonight.
