hit by hurricane or just recovering or put their house back together, and then they discover this and they have to start all over and their house is a loss, sometimes a complete loss yet again. so it is really doubly tragic for folks in that situation. i am certainly continuing to work with senator nelson and many others on legislation and in funding which has the cpsc studying this issue and has it on a more accelerated timetable to study 3 things in particular, the relationship between the dry wall and health symptoms. wood is the bottom line with health, number one. fmber two, the combination of fire safety issues and three, the tracing of the origin and distribution of the dry wall.

i know that's going on. the big issue is timing. even -- even with these funding assurances, even with the study ongoing, the word is it's taking months and months. what can you tell about the current plan at cpsc with regard to the timing of the study in? >> i understand this committee had a hearing to weeks ago on chinese drywall, and that is the date that the epa came forward and had dave either the results of its test and i am the stand a lot to tell you; is that correct, senator? >> that's my understanding. i've reviewed the letter the commissioner wrote to senator bill nelson. it's also the fact that florida has launched its own investigation to use high

performance liquid hplc to isolate the particles of the drywall that may be emitting the gases. i understand that the epa has looked at in-home test as well as chamber test and no conclusive report has given about what it is that's emitting the sulfur or contaminating the walls. i have my access to information inside the agency is through the public domain is what i get off the website and briefings in terms of a briefing book but i would like to -- if i'm confirmed meet with the scientists first before i tell you what the time frame is. it is my understanding everyone is still grappling with the science and the testing of the drywall. but once this is -- we get some information, then we need -- then if i'm confirmed, i will come back to you; work with you and we can do a public information campaign to let people know what the hazards are

and what their recourses are against companies that sold them the drywall. >> well, my understanding is that even with everything that's been done and funding commitments for cpsc to focus on this immediately, it's going to be a matter of many, many months which strikes me as really frustrating and inadequate. what will you try to do to accelerate that at cpsc? >> well, if i'm confirmed the first week we'll have a briefing. all the commissioners will be invited to have a briefing by the staff. and the staff will put out the timelines. i'll ask them to lay out timelines if i'm confirmed and when are you going to conclude your test and when can we get back with the senate commerce committees and house members in other states that are affected by the drywall and expedite this as soon as possible. but i'll have a full briefing

and come up with a schedule of implementation working with you and making sure you are fully informed. >> great, i appreciate that. and i look forward to following up with regard to that specific timetable 'cause that right now it's on a very frustrating multimonth timetable. if i could have a couple more questions 'cause this is really important. this is also part of a broader issue, obviously, with china. and china is clearly the biggest problem worldwide with regard to many products. in louisiana another big concern is contaminated seafood. that's not your jurisdiction, i understand that. but my point is, it's clearly a pattern with regard to china. what are your thoughts about focusing on this chinese pattern to really get some significant new results across-the-board? >> if i'm confirmed one of the

first things i will do is meet with a leader of the chinese counterpart which is the administration of quality supervision and quarantine to make clear the importance of china complying with the standards for consumer product safety. i also want to work with the chairman to see if a delegation from this committee would visit china or meet with my counterpart from china if he or she would visit the united states to talk about our concerns. the cpsc has a memorandum of agreement with china which needs to be reviewed. given the large number of imports coming from china. we also communicate through -- the third-party testing certification under the law that was passed last year will ensure that products coming from china are meeting the standards. that third-party testing will be

implemented this year, i understand, although laboratories -- or the tracking labels are required but the third-party testing is my understanding will be implemented this year and before you come into the port you have to have that third-party testing that can be sent electronically to the ports. the cpsc can work with the customs to make sure that those -- that certificate is with it with the extra funds that congress has provided to the cpsc. the commission could increase the number of people at its ports to ensure that the third-party certificates are correct. it will take monitoring and vigilance that they are doing their job correctly and a system for routinely checking on those and going back to make sure -- to ensure that these third-party laboratories are not filing false claims or just not doing their work adequately, but that

whole system will ensure us -- ensure americans that the products coming from china are worthy -- don't contain led or thalates. >> mr. chairman, can i ask one brief question and miss tenenbaum you can answer for the record 'cause i don't want to hold everything up. i strongly believe that one of the problems is that in the past there has not been enough common work and coordination among multiple-involved agencies like international che commission, customs, ustr and your soon to be agency working together for a practical result. for instance, in this chinese drywall situation, at the end of the day, if the only action is some sort of class action suit against some shell entity in china, which is really some arm

of the chinese government, that goes into litigation and takes years and years more, that's not a solution. that's not a good result. that's maybe making some lawyers busy and/or rich but it's not helping the victims. really, what has to happen is for this to be a priority of the u.s. government including ustr, everybody who deals weekly with china to get a practical resolution and have the victims reimbursed in a whole and a quick way and i just asked for the record your responses to that idea and how would you work toward that sort of practical bottom line result. thank you very much. >> well, thank you, senator. that is an excellent question. and i'm glad you brought that up. the cpsc is opening an office in china. but the commission needs to coordinate and not duplicate its efforts or have -- or use

resources if other agencies -- if we can pool our resources and get to the same solution. >> thanks. >> i look forward, if i'm confirmed, to meeting with all the people who are heads of these agencies to work out a way where we can work together more closely. thank you. >> thank you. senator cantwell? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and miss tenenbaum. great to see you in my office and we're glad your nomination is before the committee today. i was wondering if i could ask you about emerging products that are associated with hazards. in 2007, the commission established be a pilot program for an early warning system on emerging products and associated with hazard. it uses subject matter expert to allow the commission staff to quickly identify these issues and propose corrective action. do you know whether this pilot has been successful? >> i don't, senator cantwell. i thank you for the question,

but i don't have information on that. if it seems like a commonsense approach to work with the industries ahead of time the advise them of the regulation and the requirements on consumer products before they develop these products and then put them in the stream of commerce. >> i guess that's what i was getting at is whether in principle that approach helps the commission to be more proactive than completely reactive and should the commission be proactive when it comes to emerging safety issues in consumer products. >> the commission should be proactive. working with industry so industry doesn't have inventory where it can't sell, where the commission is responding on the back end of recalls, the sooner the commission can promulgate regulation and guidance and educate and work with industry, the less cost would be incurred by industry in developing products that it later has to

recall. >> several of the unforeseen issues the commission has had to address in implementing the consumer product safety commission improvement act involved smaller businesses and do you think the commission is well positioned for conducting outreach to smaller product manufacturers. i know the commission leverages its staffed by using standards committees and organizations like the underwriters lab and ansi but does the commission has leverage its relationship with small business administration and other agencies within the department of commerce like nist and the manufacturing extension partnership? >> senator, i don't know the specific answer to that because i haven't asked that of the commission. but the commission needs to have a partnership and also regular meetings with the leaders of these commissions so we don't duplicate resources and that

we're all enforcing standards across-the-board the same. >> okay. another issue -- i know -- i understand interested parties can submit petitions to the commission that it can ultimately lead to a rulemaking and to the best of my knowledge, those petitions have led to rulemaking and do you have any sense or any thoughts on that, the amount of time it takes or how the commission does that as it initiates its own rulemaking? >> thank you, senator. i don't have firsthand knowledge about that. but under my leadership, if i'm confirmed, i hope members of the general public, industry, consumers, interested parties would feel that they could approach the commission and make suggestions in rulemaking. we certainly would invite comment on proposed rules and

take those comments very seriously. >> i know that there's so much that the commission faces in a heavy workload. are there any current activities you might consider deemphasizing or delaying and are there some of these things that are just going to get delayed anyway because of the level of staffing? >> well, the staff has been cut in half over the last 10 years. and because of the increase of appropriation last year, the commission will be able to hire 100 additional people. under the new law, the law envisions 400 more staff positions for the commission because of the surge of imports and the importance of consumer safety and the number of incidents that have resulted in death particularly of children in the united states. one of the challenges will be

implementing the cpsc in a timely manner and getting the rules final so that industry and consumer groups and everyone will know what is required of them and to do away with the uncertainty that's surrounding this act at this point. at some point when the commissioners working on a project, if the commission doesn't have enough staff, then the commission can rely on working with other agencies or outsourcing. the agency does not have to do everything by itself if another agency has the capacity to assist in this or if you could through private parties ask -- ask them to conduct the research or do a study for you. but there are numerous agencies in the federal government that if the commission has a partnership with those agencies, it could expand the enforcement and help with the workload. >> well, thank you, miss

tenenbaum. i appreciate your answers and i appreciated our meeting and your past experience at the state level. i think you'll bring a great deal of experience and leadership to the commission so thank you. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you. senator mccaskill? >> thank you. i just wanted to stop by briefly and congratulate you. i think your nomination is such a wonderful development for this very, very important and neglected part of our government. the tenacity you have shown in your career and your willingness to take on projects against the odds, i think, suits you very well for the challenge that you've accepted. and i hope that -- i'm sure many of your visits in front of this committee will not be as pleasant as the one today. [laughter] >> but i want to make sure that we don't chase you off.

>> no. >> so i am -- i don't want to spend a lot of time talking specifically about issues. i will say that it's very important -- and i know you've discussed this in other questioning and i know that your answers have been exactly what i was looking for, but i think the problem we've got with the legislation that we passed is the confusion and uncertainty, and you combine that with a failure to embrace the notion of commonsense and our phones ring off the hook. i mean, when i've got women that i revere that are librarians crying on the phone to me, i know that something is amiss because i don't think government should ever make librarians cry.

[laughter] i think that is a bad ideas generally speaking. so i want to make sure i convey to you how much i hope your commonsense takes firm control of this situation so there if there are any remaining issues that we can take a look at, we can do so. and let me give you an opportunity to speak to that just briefly, if you would, miss tenenbaum. >> thank you, senator. and i appreciate you being here and coming -- i appreciate your question. if i'm confirmed as the chairman of the commission, it is my goal to implement the rules and the regulations and issue guidance pursuant to the cpsia as soon as possible. your phones are ringing off on the hook because the -- there are so many unanswered questions about how certain sections of the new law will be interpreted and what industry is supposed to

do. consumer advocacy groups are concerned. everyone needs to know what the roadmap is going to look like. i have found that in implementing legislation in south carolina, year after year. once comprehensive legislation is passed you have lots of push-back and people concerned because of unanswered questions. as soon as you can put in place the regulation, the guidance, and train people and answer the unanswered questions, the sooner the people let the phone calls die down and get about the business of implementing the act and that is my goal. >> well, that's terrific. on behalf of the librarians and the great thrift store operators and the wonderful folks that hunt with their atvs in missouri, i thank you for that and i look forward for a strong working relationship over the coming years and i know you'll be very good at this job. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator mccaskill.

our vote is on and let me just have a couple of follow-up questions, if i can or follow-up observations. one of the things senator lautenberg talked about is he'd written a letter and he never received a response. i don't know if this is true but anecdotally i've heard and i hope it's not true that there was favoritism shown to republican inquiries as opposed to democratic inquiries and i certainly hope that wasn't the case. but i would definitely hope as long as you're chairman you'll be very politically neutral when it comes to communicating with house, senate, attorney generals, governors, whatever the case may be. >> senator, i will. my track record as state superintendent of education was to treat all persons who wrote letters to the state department or requested me to visit schools as politically neutral. it will be in the executive branch and i want to work with

everyone in the congress and throughout the federal and state government as best i can. >> well, that's the way it should be. let me also just mention an observation, the chinese drywall case is an illustration of how how much easier it is to fix the problem before it comes into the united states? and now with that chinese drywall, it is in houses, it's ruined houses, it's ruined their value. the cost to the end user, the homeowner is much greater than the cost of the drywall. and it would have -- if we could have gone back a few years in time and if we had an inspector there, if we had an office there, you mentioned that, if we had someone there to say, no, that cannot come into the u.s., just think about how many millions and millions of dollars that would have saved people around the country. another thing i would like to

say before i close is, i think when we talk about librarians and atvs and other matters that we've talked about today, thrift stores, et cetera, i think that what's happened -- what you can see is when the agency runs properly, it can help resolve these issues before the industry gets to a chaos point but i think in the last few months, what you've seen is with some actions of the agency or individuals there or whatever the case may be, statements made by them, you saw almost a panic in a lot of sectors of our economy with people not knowing what to do and i think you've done a good job of addressing that today. so i think those with commonsense and that people talked about and that spirit of cooperation and working together to resolve this and get to a resolution that's good for everybody, i think that'll be a great breath of fair share.

now one last thing before i close and that is the chairman who senator rockefeller and senator hutchison, the ranking member have asked all senators to get their questions for the record in today by 6:00 pm. that's good news for you because that means what they are hoping is we'll be able to move this nomination quicker. normally we leave the record open for a couple of weeks but they would like to get the questions into today if possible so i'm just telling that so all the staff will hear. miss tenenbaum, we really, really appreciate your interest in public service and your willingness to take on this commission, and we've enjoyed our time together and your responses to the question and thank you and we look forward to working with you as you're the chairwoman of the consumer product safety commission. with that, we'll adjourn the hearing. >> thank you. ion. with that we will adjourn the hearing. [inaudible conversations]

>> the state department has expanded the list of countries that may not be doing enough to combat human trafficking. including more than 50 countries mainly in africa, asia, and the middle east. we'll show you as much of this briefing as we can until live coverage of white house chief of staff rahm emanuel at 9:00 am eastern. >> good afternoon, everyone. it's a pleasure to have with us today ambassador lewis de-baca who is the director of the office of to monitor and combat trafficking in persons so so the ambassador is going to make some remarks and answer some questions. without further ado, i'll turn it over to the ambassador. >> this morning the secretary unveiled the annual trafficking in persons report, which is statutorily mandated for the

secretary to report and rank on the progress that countries are making to fight human trafficking around the world. human trafficking defined in american law and international agreements as obtaining or maintaining the labor or services of another through force, coercion and, in effect, modern slavery. one of the things that the report looks at this year is the affect of the global economic crisis on the human trafficking issue. and the report concludes that in a time of economic crisis, victims are more vulnerable, affected communities are more vulnerable and persons who are under economic stress are more likely to fall prey to the wiles of the traffickers who often get their victims through promises of a better life, promises of better earnings, the ability to earn money if they are to travel

abroad for work and often what we see then is reflected in the report this year is the notion of large upfront payments, recruiting fees, debts that are taken out either to the recruiters themselves or to loan sharks in the home country so that by the time that workers get to their destination, they are already, in effect, held in debt bondage. that is a circumstance that is unscrupulous employers can often build upon, holding a complacent and compliant labor force through the threat of force, through the threat of coercion, through the threat of bankruptcy and economic ruin. this is something that the united states has been leading on in the last 10 years. this is the ninth annual trafficking report. when the trafficking report first began it was a relatively modest undertaking with about 82 countries. now the report is up to 175

nations and is truly becoming the global snapshot of the modern slavery problem. one definitional issue as far as trafficking is concerned despite the name, the use of the word trafficking seems to have the notion of movement built into it. under both u.s. law and under the united nations protocol, movement is not required and so what we're really dealing with is we're dealing with that notion of global forced labor, global enslavement. the international labor organization issued a report the cost of coercion about six weeks -- excuse me, about a month ago and in that report, the ilo estimated 12.3 million people being held in bondage worldwide of whom they estimated about 1.5 million are for sexual slavery, sexual servitude which is perhaps a little bit counterintuitive to what people have seen the modern slavery or

the human trafficking problem as historically. certainly press accounts, what you see in movies, what you see in mass culture tends to define this as a problem of people being moved for prostitution, people perhaps being kidnapped into prostitution. whether what we see, what the unodc has reported on in their trafficking report earlier this year and what the ilo is reporting on is people are being enslaved, whether it is prostitution, labor, agriculture, factories, fields, domestic service they are often entering into the relationship voluntarily and then becoming enslaved within that. and so, of course, the notion of obtaining -- while that is certainly one of the ways in which trafficking manifests itself, we often see maintaining the victims as just as important. and that makes sense because you

often have situations where a person will have agreed to work as a maid, for instance, and it's only after she's in the city, after she's being behind closed doors, after the abuse starts, that she truly is being held captive so it's not necessarily trickery although again trickery is something that is often built in to the situation. the report this year hope you have seen a chance to see the copies that were distributed. i think we've got other copies that will be available as well. the tip report is perhaps notable for the notion that there are some -- as there always are some countries that have shown improvement which is reflected in the report. and there are some countries that have either gone backwards or have failed to improve. and since one of the things that we look at as far as the trafficking report is concerned is whether countries a