you can't do that because it's not within your constitutional powers. >> watch this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org and listen using the free c-span radio app. >> now, we take you to the economic policy institute in washington dc for conversation on federal regulation and gop legislation to make it more difficult for federal agencies to enact the regulations. we will hear from people who say they have suffered due to the lack of appropriate government regulations. this panel discussion is on our. this panel discussion is one hour. >> good morning, everyone.

thank you all for being here at this briefing, right-- regulatory disaster, americans harmed by regulation speak out. i am rachel, legislative director and general counsel with consumer federation of america and i need a lobbyist team and i'm a member of the executive committee which is hosting this event. we are an alliance of more than 150 consumer, small business, labor, scientific, research, good government, faith community, health, environmental and public interest groups representing millions of americans. we are joined in the belief that our country's system of regulatory safeguards should provide a stable framework that secures

our quality of life, paves the way for a sound economy and benefits us all. i would like to think the economic policy institute for hosting us today and for all of their work and supports in this event. i would also like to thank americans for financial reform, environmental working group, union of concerned scientists, environmental defense, public citizen's and my colleagues at consumer federation of america who work in preparation for today's event. i would also like to remind everyone that we are live tweeting at the #her to buy deregulation and go away are a a. this morning we are here to discuss the very real and significant consequences of deregulation took as a country we depend on rules to make our life saver, healthier and more fair. however, there are numerous efforts under consideration by congress that will make it vastly more difficult if not impossible for rules that we need and

expect to ever be finalized the regulatory ability act is one of the most pernicious of these bills. the bill passed the house in january and was voted out of the committee in the senate this past night. this bill in the senate is f9 51 and it's a threat to the rules we all care about. the raa would handcuff all federal agencies in their protection of consumers, workers and the environment and prioritizes regulatory costs over regulatory effectiveness as a bird is some new analytical requirement and makes the rulemaking process more adversarial favoring those powerful special interest groups with the resources to make the system work to their benefit. raa would override bipartisan laws that have been in effect for years as well as those more recently enacted to protect consumers from unfair, fair and deceptive financial services on unsafe food

and unsafe compared just products for example. raa would infuse obstacles into the process took it prioritizes cost of a benefit. the raa would require all agencies regardless of their statutorily mandated mission to adopt the most cost-effective alternative when issuing major or high-impact rules and that administrator of the white house's office of information and regulatory affairs has discretion to categorize rules if they have an impact on competition, for example. this would significantly override important bipartisan laws that have been in effect for years. as well as more recently enacted laws to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive financial practices, under safe food and unsafe consumer products. many consumer protection agencies have missions to protect consumers in

various ways. the raa would preempt those missions by prioritizing the most cost-effective alternative over the most consumer protective further, it is not even defined in raa leaving a critical term ambiguous and likely up to years of litigation to decipher. that raa requires extensive new analysis that will paralyze agencies. about raa would create dozens of new analytical and procedural requirements that all agencies misconduct report issuing protective safeguards. these time-consuming resource intensive often one-sided agreements-- requirements wouldn't necessarily improve the quality of the agency decision-making process, but rather an extensive delay or complete paralysis to the promulgation of safeguards that

americans expect and rely upon to protect their families. that raa would also make the process more adversarial and less accessible. the raa would make it harder for the public including consumers and consumer organizations, public interest organizations to participate in the rulemaking process by requiring adversarial procedures of formal rulemaking for the most significant rulemaking. the raa would also make independent agencies with independent, undermining expertise. that raa would tie the hands of independent agencies such as securities and exchange commission, consumer product safety commission and the consumer financial protection bureau, which were specifically created to be outside of the political cabinet level agency's for the purpose of ensuring that the expertise of those agencies would guide

decision making. come about raa creates more opportunities for those opposed to consumer and environmental worker protection to intervene and delay or support the rulemaking process. the raa would empower those opposed to rules that relate their industry to intervene in the regulatory process through suing the agency. the deference that judges have generally afforded to agencies that require scientific pentateuch or expertise would be undermined by the raa's provision that empowers judges to intervene and use their judgment over that of agency experts. this will lead to more litigation and more rules overturning courts as judges increasingly second-guess science and expertise based agency decision-making to protect the public. our speakers this morning well share their experiences with you that compel the need for

more regulation and not less as would be the consequences of the raa. i would like to briefly judy's are seekers. verse, amber who is from portland, oregon and will discuss how she was denied justice do to force arbitration. our seconds beaker is penny dryden from wilmington, delaware and she will discuss how her community suffered from industrial and chemical pollution third speaker, doctor paul brooks from the ni, west virginia and will discuss how his community suffers from detect-- contaminated water. kirsty kristofferson from oregon and she will discuss how her than 10 -month-old son became sick with salmonella from eating a toddler snack. rfid speaker from hollywood, maryland and he will discuss the need for safety and the tragedy his family has endured after the string elation death of his 2-year old granddaughter

from a window blind cord. our sixth speaker is mr. miles harrison from virginia whose 20 -month-old son died in a hot car. our speakers will take questions at the end of all of the presentations. thank you very much and i now turn to amber. >> : hello. my name is amber and i come from a small semi rural community in southern oregon where live with my mother as well as san diego where i live with my father. my mother worked as a bookkeeper, my bot-- neither of my parents went to college. when i began my studies in 2003, i discovered that i knew little about the world much less about how it worked to what was possible within

it. wanting to study every subject and take classes in every department, but the university universe in its bureaucracy was a bit overwhelming so i transferred to a community college where i attended part-time while working at a coffee shop. back then i didn't know how my degree would translate to a career, but i was convinced to earn any degree guarantee me a decent, well-paying job. by 2008, the mistake and yet, in allusion about my job prospects had been completely dashed. i had only just transferred back to the university yet felt the urge to get out before acquiring further debt. however, in the fervor of my earlier idealism i had taken courses in some a different subjects that i was nowhere close to fulfilling the requirements of any single major. ..

therefore, the money was invested. i even achieved straight is my first muster for beginning of the second semester in 2014 i could no longer do for my previous student loans and i was forced to drop out when i couldn't make my student loan payment which were up to $2000 a month. i returned home absolutely dejected to move back in with my family at age 31. after months of being hounded by

collection agencies over the phone and through the mail, i filed for bankruptcy later that year. it was a devastating experience to go from so much hope and excitement to feeling like i was completely out of options. in 2168 bankruptcy judge decided that being forced to repay my loans at that point would cause an undue hardship. it was ruled that some of my loans, including those held by citibank would be wiped out. the court granted me the ability to get out of default by setting up private terms with lenders as my federal loans with department of education. you can imagine the sense of relief i felt at regaining control over my situation. after years of uncertainty and disappointment i finally had the chance to set things right, get back on track and lead a normal life. at the beginning of 2017, this

year, might bankruptcy officially closed and all of my creditors received notices of my discharge order including citibank. the weight was lifted and i reestablish myself even as i face the day the ability of having a bankruptcy on my record. mere weeks after my discharge, citibank ignored the order of the judge and turned me over to collections. they threatened my federal government as well as my newfound sense of response ability i didn't pay. the next few months i was the multiple collection letters and even found out that my boyfriends grandmother had received a call. when the judge found out what citibank did he ordered the bank's lawyers to show cause of why they should be held in contempt for ignoring orders. instead of apologizing or sweating, citibank they arguing that the judge has no power over them because citibank. a ripoff clause in the fine

print of its own treatment and they any dispute related to my loan must be decided in secret, private arbitration. even though it had been discharged. in private, arbitration the judge be powerless to enforce any of his orders. instead, a private firm chosen by citibank would decide what happened and neither i nor the judge be able to appeal the ruling. a new role for the consumer financial protection bureau addresses the widespread harm caused by forced arbitration. allow consumers like me to join together to challenge citibank or other bank lenders in class action lawsuits only break the law rather than having to fight them one by one like me in secret arbitration. the rule also brings transparency, individual arbitration proceedings by creating a public record of claims and outcomes ensuring banks and lenders cannot use

these clauses to cover up their illegal behavior. however, congress has moved to repeal this rule using an obscure tool called the congressional review act. if passed, this resolution would strip consumers of their seventh amendment right to take banks to court and would even prevent the cfpb from ever issuing another rule to restrict forced arbitration. the resolution passed the house two weeks ago and needs 51 votes to pass the senate. if the sea role companies like citibank can profit from ignoring the lawful order of the judges that my tax dollars before and operate outside the law in a private justice system. we can't allow powerful corporations to hurt consumers like me, real people, like all of us on this stage by simply opting out of state and federal law. the idea of a congress losing

and leaving this rule alone the regulatory accountability including the cfpb from issuing crucial public protections like this rule to restrict arbitration. i urge congress to support the cfpb arbitration rule" against the regulatory accountability act. thank you. >> thank you so much, amber. [applause] i now introduce penny. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to be here on this morning. my name is penny and i'm the executive director of community housing and i am the chairperson of the delaware branch naacp housing committee. i've been asked to speak today as an affiliate member of the delaware president in our

mission is to inform, empower communities to take action to protect their rights to clean air, water, land in food. the regulatory accountability act would create significant blocks to our right by making it nearly impossible for agencies like the epa was very work is to protect clean air. therefore they must oppose the riaa. i grew up in a small environmental justice community right outside of the city of wilmington, delaware was residents are predominantly black, low income, have cancer

risks that are 19-23% higher than more fluent communities. respiratory health risks, in my community, is 32-43% higher than delaware overall. people there did not know that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of malls and toxic plants that are detrimental to their health and the health of their children. i now understand why my father died of pancreatic cancer. my 81 -year-old mother, suffers from breast cancer and ime to time survivor of breast cancer at 19 and colon cancer at 28.

i am now 60 years old and am cancer free. thank god. in addition to having the second highest cancer and respiratory risk within 1 mile there are 48 brownfield sites. more than half of all brownfields in delaware and also within 1 mile or two risk management programs facilities, 13 toxic facilities and for superfund sites. our communities must remain informed and protected. deregulation or rolling back of the risk management plan or chemical facilities that allow communities like mine to be aware of the dangers to chemicals lurking in our backyards is unjust.

this deregulatory push must be stopped. the lack of strong regulation or air pollution to local plants and industrial facilities will leave many communities like ramsgate right outside of wilmington, delaware and others more susceptible to asthma and respiratory illnesses. legislation like the riaa would make it harder for our communities to get the protection we need from polluters and industry bad actors. i strongly urge the u.s. senate, delaware degradation, senator carper and senator coons to stand with us. protect us by voting down the regulatory accountability act.

what we want our communities in northern newcastle from a policy approach to address address of a resume for addressing exposure to both indoor and out ther outr air toxins. we support changes in development and land use policies and practices that include addressing cumulative impact, building materials made for housing, healthcare facilities and schools including a plan for addressin addressinga level rise. we want proactive mitigation plans that will protect us from chemicals, natural disasters and climate -induced disasters. moreover we want to be a part of the process because we hold solutions. we believe in the beloved community that includes healthy and just employment located

along a healthy coast. that is what we are organized and stand before, not deregulation like our aa. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much, penny. i now introduce paul brooks. >> i want to pass my gratitude for being able to speak to this conference. it's terribly important. my name is doctor paul brooks and i've been a position in west virginia for over 40 years and for ten years i've been deeply involved with the discovery of the contamination and the ongoing discoveries of human diseases that see eight has been linked to in humans.

when c8 was discovered in the water supply people in the area were shocked and this occurred early in the century. dupont, the people trusted dupont about being forthcoming about the situation and they were not. dupont claimed publicly that c8 was harmless in humans and if were not for outside regulation, thousands of residents in the area would still be exposed to unsafe water and would never have known it. we must have independent regulations. obviously, self-regulation doesn't work. the result of dupont's decade-long cover-up of the science behind the c8 in the contamination in the ohio river and the water supplies in six

water districts exceeded that regulatory level and at that time lawsuits were filed and the state health project was accomplished and the extent of the diseases that were linked to c8 and were exposed. thousands of people in my community have been sickened by c8 dumped in our water and we now know that c8 exposure is linked to cancer, colitis and other serious diseases. without regulation the dangerous c8 may never have been known. that began in july 2005 and was accomplished by june 2006. to collect the data from nearly 70000 residents that were exposed to the water there in a one year contingency basis. independent epidemiologist and

international claim gave indication that there were links of the human diseases were likely but they cannot make their final determination until all of the data that they were required to find and look at including the large collection was examined and the results known. in early 2012 the epidemiologist released the final report naming six diseases with probable links to c8. meanwhile, dupont claims we acted responsibly and even after that was proven to be a lie. water supply for 12 million gallons a day and where i live 1 million gallons a day were lower than the epa and forced of short-term levels which was 30 days or less.

this was the beginning of the class action lawsuit that was held in 22005. the population felt safe because they generally believed the levels were not exceeded but in federal court. [inaudible] the discovery of the extent of dupont's decade-long cover-up of a science and now has contamination of the area with another chemical which is another. [inaudible] is led to the community with a different attitude toward dupont. more contamination was discovered in my town of vienna in the spring of 2006. the discoveries were in new york, new jersey, vermont and the epa produced its advisory levels and this was the first

advisory level of long-term exposure. drinking water to 0.07 parts 4 billion. that is pretty silent. harrisburg water is still below that recommended letter but bns is not in panic set in immediately. the announcement was made on wednesday and thursday and the city council of vienna met, closed at schools, restaurants and advised citizens and people supply water like residence demanded or directed that the use bottled water. there was a run on bottled water and orders had to be placed around trucks that brought in water that you could collect from and -- sorry. i had to place guard those

trucks. [inaudible] dupont had asked all of their layman and moore's is now the editing. since fall c8 is not detectable in the vienna water but. [inaudible] has declared its water safe even though it's under the epa advisory levels of parts. million. analysis has confirmed levels of that blow that but without regulation vienna and many other communities still drink contaminated water till this day. vienna's reaction mears. [inaudible] it can inform and cause deadly diseases.

the following news that we carried calls a national criminal investigation which is now ongoing. in wilmington, delaware, salina, things are being held by jumping and replacing chemicals of c8 into the local water supply. it's gotten a lot of national attention. so, we are in contact with communities across the country that are dealing with c8 or other contamination. in new york, vermont, salina, new jersey, and its discoverer in harrisburg c8 contamination now recognized as a national and international issue. every human being on this planet

will test positive for c8. i'm gracious that the president is a high percentage of that c8 is a threat to our health and dupont is responsible and dupont has abandoned the area. tupac shakur was not coming and it took years for us to know the truth. as a result, we are under constant threat and have daily concerns. if our government doesn't protect us, will? in conclusion, without meaningful regulation, none of the contamination would have been discovered and no one in my community would have found out about the harmful effects of c8. dupont would have walked away from the largest worldwide contamination of a toxic

substance uncontained and untouched and legislation cannot be allowed to hinder proper and timely regulation. bills like our aa should not be passed by congress. if it is passed, what happened in parkersburg will continue to happen again and again. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, doctor brooks. i would like to now introduce christie from bend, oregon. >> hello. thank you to the coalition forces will safeguard and for organizing this event and inviting me to speak. my name is kristi and i'm from bend, oregon i'm here today to tell you about what happened to my son. we assumed he was healthy and it

ended up being the worst thing we could've given our child. that something no. chapter piece. in 2007 back was under a year old and one of his favorite foods was a puff right snack with kale and spinach seasoning. we never imagined that something that seems so wholesome would make our child so sick. when he began having diarrhea we thought it was the flu and after three days became a painful ordeal to change every diaper and we took him to our position for an exam. our doctor noticed the severe diaper rash had developed from blood and mucus in his diaper. we discovered the presence of salmonella and uncommon bacteria that affects mostly children. about four weeks after he tested positive for salmonella the public health department told us the cause of the illness. across the country 55 people had been infected in the same outbreak. with an average victim age was 60 months.

they determine that a vegetable seasoning from china was the culprit. after finding nothing but testing more common and if it interview. he was sick for ten days and although we haven't based on going because the. this affected his digestive system at a young age and he could have further packs later on. they assume that if something is sold on the shelf that it inspector out there out there is making sure it's safe. our food safety needs to be strengthened by the regulatory accountability act to make it more difficult for agencies like the fda to ensure that the food we feed our children safe. in 2011 the food safety modernization act authorized the fda to issue additional regulatory protections to prevent contaminated food and response outbreaks but the our

aa would stop these protections in these trucks. the regulatory accountability act would add dozens of cumbersome and new requirements to the rulemaking process and require the agencies like the fda put corporate profits ahead of public safety and health when developing new regulations. the legislation would also get corporate lobbyists dozens of new ways to dilute, delay and defeat public protection. there is a reason people are calling the ra eight the filthy food act. that is because it would make our food less safe. it's bad for consumers, that for families and dangerous to our children. according to the center for disease control every year about 48 million americans get sick and 128,000 are hospitalized and 3000 die from eating contaminated food. these contaminants claim the lives of dozens of children every year. i personally met many families who lost loved ones due to preventable foodborne illnesses. our family was lucky in our

experience that it did not result in losing our child. no one should have to go through that. lawmakers should vote against the regulatory accountability act and should instead work on making our food supply safer rather than undermining the agencies that are supposed to ensure our kids don't get seminal way my son did. i have a message for senator rob portman, the lead senate senator and those who signed on to the bill it cosponsors. the riaa would block lifesaving public protection and let big corporations break the rules. please consider your ledges support for this legislation. no parent should have to go through what we went through. we need to do everything we can to make sure that what happened to my family doesn't happen to anyone else. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, kristi. i now introduce mr. timothy frank from hollywood, maryland.

>> my name is timothy frank. i have five children and i have five grandchildren and i have another one on the way and i have one that we lost. we lost our precious breanna who died at age three due to strangulation by a venetian blind cord five years ago. in general, i have always thought that i was in favor of limited government regulation in our personal lives and businesses but after hearing these panelists i am drastically reconsidering my position. i truly believe no business has the right to please their own safety standards decades after decades all children continue to die on products that meet the exacting standards of the industry deemed to be safe. if the industry had the

technology that refuses to design out hazards there must be restraint and there must be regulation and there must be control to keep these big businesses from destroying children's lives on needlessly. please, help us by opposing this regulation. the regulatory accountable act that will make it difficult or impossible for sensible protections that will say life, prevent injury and to become law. we should not do anything that will tie the hands of the consumer product safety commission which is charged with protecting our children from unsafe products. my daughter and her husband were military police officers in january of 2011 when they received orders to return to iraq. it would be his tour tour and her second tour. they had two precious little girls at this time.

breanna was a few years old and alexis was seven months old. our family all agreed to have the grandchildren stay with the two sets of grandparents while our kids went off to iraq. at first, i couldn't believe they wanted to leave their children behind and go off to the war together and serve at the same time but they thought it would be less stressful on their marriage and family by leaving the children with us. it turned out to be a great year in our lives in a year we will never forget having those precious children with us. parenting young grandchildren can be challenging for any grandparent and as some of you may know there's challenges that will stretch grandparents but reliving those early years when our own girls were so small was a tremendous delight in well with the challenges we had faced. here a couple of entries on my

journal from a year when the little girls lived with us. breanna you are so good with words and expressing yourself at such a young age and you always amaze us with your delightful expressions and i'll never forget the time we're driving to the top of the island and he looked out and at the age of two and beholding the beautiful view of the river and the chesapeake bay you throughout your arms and claimed it's amazing. this is what we always say when we drive over the bridge we don't expect a two -year-old saying that. i could share story after story of our precious breanna was she was living with us. when christie and christopher returned in 2011 we were thankful for their safe return and the family was reunited and backed across to tennessee where they were stationed. it was on july 10th, 5 years ago that we received the horrible news that our

granddaughter had been strangled to death by a blind cord in the upstairs den. it was a simple thing. you would never even think it could happen to you and your family. a matter fact, our kids installed these heavy-duty blinds from a big box store and they had specifically cut the cord because it was recommended to not have the long cords which were 10 feet long. bring them up so that they aren't on the floor and cause a danger. unfortunately, a year later they had redone the furniture and they pitched the couch up against the wall and the blinds were behind and not realizing that was a deadly danger. on that day breanna had put on her bride outfit and talked daddy into marrying her again with daddy marrying the untrained mommy marrying them.

christie took the day off to spend the day with the girls but later that day kristi was cooking dinner and breanna was upstairs watching a program in the den and christie heard it got quiet and she hadn't heard breanna squealing with delight and went to investigate. you cannot imagine the shock and horror that she felt when she went upstairs and discovered breanna hanging there, strangled to death this blind cord. christie would say that a medical technician tried to do cpr but it was too late. pain was gone. the impact of kids and family was beyond words and they could never recover and never fully recovered from the sudden death of a child. christopher retired from disability from the army due to ptsd and a very serious injuries he suffered any rack to his knees and christie suffered from ptsd and the devastating loss of

her precious princess. she too lost her army career and is now retired on disability. five years later she still has emotional scars in the painted scars. their level of commitment so strong that they didn't lose their marriage. our children were willing to sacrifice their lives with their two children and they were willing to lay down their own life because they believed in america and they believe that protecting americans and it's a terrible irony in a shame that breanna had to be killed in her own home which should be a safe haven. for the last 40 years, window manufacturing covers have known that their products are killing our children. yet, they been unwilling to stop production and price their products. we survived the horrible experience but her family will never be the same. we not only lost our

granddaughter but we lost our little girl she lived for a year. we've all been broken by these events that any family experiences and we are heartsick that this industry continues to pass through their safety testing procedures window products that threaten children's sleep environments and many tenants including those in hud housing, military soldiers and they have no choice what their window coverings are in their home and they are told to play in an environment. wherever i go and there's these nation by courts everywhere and it's on my mission to say that you know my granddaughter died and i don't care that you haven't hung up there but they need to come down in an instant. they could kill your child in 30 seconds. every single one of these court products has a cost-effective alternative and children have

been strangled with safety cleats, breakaway cords, loops that have been tied down with tensioners and a broken away from walls and other field safety devices that unsuspecting parents have tested. i believe the regulatory accountability act is misnamed and it should be the regulatory on accountability act because it is allowing these companies to be on accountable for their actions and not have to follow proper procedures and testing in order to have safe products for our own benefits. it will allow companies to have the least costly products or most cost-effective rather than products that maximize benefit to the public. that seems desperate what is more important, lives of our children and family members or profits?

it doesn't make sense to me. i urge everyone to remember our story and to oppose the rra's that will make it harder for the consumer product safety commission to prevent other families from suffering as we have. i urge our senators and our president to oppose this act and any other legislation that will make it more difficult for agencies to fill their mission to protect children and their families. this regulatory economy act will make it almost impossible for businesses to properly value all human life and especially to cease making child killing products. [applause] >> thank you so much mr. frank. i now introduce mr. myles harrison from virginia. >> it was nine years ago and i

was getting everyone up and running out the door. like so many parents i was multitasking, getting my child ready, making sure we had everything packed in rushing around the typical morning business. my world changed forever that day. when i went into my office that day i was focused on fixing all of the problems at work because that was my job. the day flew by. i went to lunch with my boss to fill him in on the status of my work and it was the only break of the day. then having no idea what time it was a colleague of mine came into my office and said hey, do you have a doll in your car.

stunned i had no idea why he would ask such a question and couldn't imagine what he was talking about. i stood up and started to go through what i had done that day and then realized. zero my god. no. no god, no. i rushed to the car as it came upon the side window i saw chase. i had not dropped him off at daycare as i had intended. i ripped open the car door, pulled him from the car unaware of anyone around and iran to my office with him in my arms. screaming and crying and calling out for help. it was too late. i was so distraught, upset and completely incapacitated that i

spent hours in the er. the nurse offered me painkillers to help me feel better but i refused and said i did not deserve to not to the pain. without any compassion the police demanded that i be brought to the police station in interview immediately. the detective started asking all sorts of questions like do you have life insurance on your son. it started to me. i had killed my son. my poor, sweet little boy. god, take me know and return him to his beautiful mother. please, not him, meat.

i had to be hospitalized for seven weeks and even registered under a big name because i would've been arrested the moment i left the hospital. tragically, i was not even allowed to attend my son's funeral. my story continues with a public trial and fighting a charge of involuntary manslaughter of which, thank god, was found not guilty after three days of the courtroom. it really didn't matter to me whether i was found guilty or innocent. i considered myself guilty and full of shape. i cried every day parties and i still have not forgiven myself and don't know if i have the capacity to do so. i look at my wife and amazement. she is never wavered and she stayed with me and we're still together. she is the most beautiful, wonderful wife in the world. after the trial gene weingarten

will vote a pulitzer prize-winning article called field instruction about parents have gone through what my family went through. somehow he was able to capture the essence of why otherwise wonderful parents could be involved in a parent's worst nightmare. he was able to explain the monitoring phenomenon in a way people could understand and relate. the death of our precious baby boy became an international incident in the russian government banned all adoptions of american children and named the law after my son, chase. we were bombarded with news articles written about what a terrible person i am and how this could never happen to responsible people. frankly, the daily meeting i get result is far more brittle than anything i have read about myself on the internet. this did not have to happen. if there had been a simple time to alert me of my son's presence none of this would've happened. how can this be?

in this great country it is not mandatory that the simplest alarm not be required in all cars. children are dying unnecessarily in families are being destroyed unnecessarily. this has got to stop. we needed to pass a law that will set in motion a process to finalize and regulation to require a charm or other reminder to prevent other families from experience this tragedy. we have our work cut out for us. passing a regulation is hard and takes a long time. we've been trying for 15 years to get this technology added to vehicles unsuccessfully. it's already close to impossible to make these type of changes but if a bill called the regulatory accountability act or our aa is fast and becomes lost

it will virtually be impossible for a rule like this to be appointed. it would also prevent rules from being implanted to present other safety problems that harm children and adults in cars and involving other products. the our aa will require so much analysis and an adversarial system and will not sufficiently take into account the vast benefits of life-saving rules such as a rule that could have saved my son, chase. our son jesus honor we have made it our mission to try to prevent this unspeakable tragedy from happening to any parents. every time we hear of another child dying we relive that horrible day with them all over and we asked why. why does this keep happening when there is technology available to prevent it? every loving, caring parent must realize that this disaster could have happened to them. they need to be aware of the phenomenon and make sure that rules that would save lives such as a rule to mandate a vehicle

alarm system to save the lives of our children and eliminate the crushing pain that causes us parents can be implanted. thank you. [applause] >> please join me in thanking our speakers. it takes tremendous strength and courage to turn these personal and community tragedies into advocacy. every one of these families of these individuals very much could turn inward and suffer violently and internally and yet all of these folks have chosen to be out there publicly, to prevent others from suffering the harm that they are suffering. please, join me in thanking them with awe and appreciation. [applause] i now would like you to open the floor to questions.

please, identify yourself before you choose to ask a question. [inaudible] one comment on the c8. i remember and i've been around a lot enough to remember when the united steelworkers had to deal with a big c8 problem and it was in oklahoma so you might want to contact them for analysis there. the question is one of you mentioned senator portman is the lead sponsor of the our aa and this thing is picking through congress or going through congress and have any of you had a chance to talk with your lawmakers and if so, what

responses have you gotten? >> we are actually meeting with our members of congress later today and we've had a series of meetings and lobby days from all different communities and other communities have had lobby days mitigating with their members of congress with various results depending, i would say, on where they are. however, we have been heartened that more people have not gotten onto the bill and it's incredibly important for these folks to communicate their stories. doctor brooks, do you want to respond? >> it's hard to recall how much is going on the past few years but since we established a

website, do not keep your promises we have spent at least two or three communications to all of the city, county, state, national representatives in the state of west virginia and ohio. although, five of the six walker districts in ohio became prominent in the class action suit are in ohio. there on the western side of the river and were lubec, the eastern side. i hate to admit it but essentially, no results. i don't think and i'd have to go back to the central office of dupont keep your promises but i don't know, to my knowledge they got it.

we received your medication but nothing to the best of my knowledge has ever been done. locally, i've been fairly active from time to time but does make me put it this way. we would never have had the water in vienna which is a small distribution, a million dollars a day had it not been for the epa dropping that advisory level that created a panic i alluded to. it would never have occurred that we would still be drinking the same contaminated water that was established at a .1 most areas in new york and vermont and et cetera. we will have to try to get enough critical mass, if you will, to bring meaningful

regulation to this terrible chemical. it is not only the united states but worldwide. >> i would like to add that there are many false narratives being perpetuated about the need for regulatory reform. with the our aa, one specific false narrative is that it's procedural and nearly amends the 40 -year-old laws that need to be changed and that could be not further from the truth. the stories we were today, the real world consequences of making it even harder to regulate are the strongest response to that false narrative and that's what will be talking about two senators today. >> untrained any other questions before we close?

okay. thank you for your time and the speakers will be unavailable for one-on-one interviews after the briefing and today. thank you very much. [applause] >> tonight on the cricketers. >> i'd like to say that hackers don't have computers. >> were at the black hat conference in las vegas talking about cyber security and cyber threats with the ceo of net square. >> it's not easy to have a large organization and keep on attacking it month after month.

today we have to really think about collective defense. we cannot keep reacting to tax anymore we have to turn the concept around. set the traps and we have to create customized environments and we have to engage in print hunting. >> watch the communicators tonight at eight eastern on c-span2. >> on 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, tonight for former national security advisers who serve the last two presidents including steven hadley for president george w. bush and i'm. >> i'm worried. i think were in a dangerous. with russia and i think has decided that americans are anti- russian and has a master says all the time there is no

constituency for russian religious in the united states and he's basically saying if you think i am an enemy, i will show you what it is like to have an enemy in russia. >> to state the future of the internet here is the white house interim chief digital officer. >> were talking about how certain platforms seem to provide people with information that reform of a already think. it's not like this book said hey, you're conservative, i think you're conservative and i'll keep showing you conservative contents. they said i will show you things from the people you know and i'll show you content for the pages you like it when you start clicking on those things i will figure out was constant you seem to like and keep showing you more of that. had facebook not done that we wouldn't be having this conversation because they wouldn't have grown to scale to which they grew today. back wednesday, a form on the changing role of cities adheres

former mayor of rio de janeiro. >> i think cities will play a major role of fighting against and the way cities can change the democracies as a machine to change what is going on. >> there's a common in-depth look at the opioid epidemic, including ohio attorney general who is suing several drug companies for their marketing of opioid painkillers. >> what is different about this a drug problem that we have is how pervasive it is. it is absolutely everywhere. it is in our smallest communities and our cities and it's almost fluent suburbs. >> friday, a conversation with supreme court justice elena kagan. >> you said at the beginning of our conversation we are not a pure democracy. were a constitutional democracy and that means that the judiciary has an important role to play in policing the boundaries of all the other branches. that can make the judiciary an

unpopular set of people when they say to a governor or president or congress no, you can't do that because it's not within your constitutional powers. >> watch this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span .org. listen using the free c-span radio app. >> social security policy experts talk about why the nation's social insurance program is crucial for so many people other than retirees. their comments and presentation were all part of an event hosted by the national academy of social insurance in washington dc earlier this month. this panel discussion is in our i think we are ready to begin. let me welcome all of you to our national academy of social insurance. i'm bill and the chief