gideon case, which i think you heard was collected by a prominent news person from cbs who got interested in gideon's trumpet after it was written and helped produce something for cbs reports, which was then an important documentary program and decided he would just collect what he could about the case and about gideon. and it's all down there for you to look at, as is our gift shop which will remain open for the balance of the evening. you'll find some books down there and lots of other interesting things as well. please enjoy the evening and thanks for coming. [ applause ]. we take you live now to the economic policy institute in washington for a conversation just getting underway on federal regulation and gop legislation to make it more difficult for

federal agencies to enact new regulations. >> -- representing millions of americans. we are joined in the belief that our country's system of regulatory safeguards should provide a stable free market that secures our way of life, paves the way for a sound economy and benefits us all. i would like to thank the economic policy institute for hosting us today and for all of their work and support in this event. i would also like to thank americans for financial reform, the environmental working group, union of concerned scientists, kids in cars, environmental defense fund, public citizen and my colleagues at consumer federation of america for all of their work in preparation for today's event. i'd also like to remind everyone that we are live tweeting at the hashtags hurt by deregulation and go away raa. this morning we are here to

discuss the very real and significant consequences of deregulation. as a country, we depend on rules to make our lives safer, 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 accountability act is one of the most pernicious of these bills. the bill passed the house in january and was voted out of committee in the senate this past may. this bill in the senate is s-951 and it is a threat to the rules that we all care about. the raa would handcuff all federal agencies in their efforts to protect consumers, workers and the environment. it prioritizes regulatory costs over regulatory effectiveness, adds burdensome new analytical

requirements and makes the rule making process more adversarial, favoring the powerful special interest groups. the raa would over ride important bipartisan laws, as well as those more recently enacted to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive financial services, unfair and unsafe food kpamp. the the raa would require all agencies regardless of their statutorily mandated missions to adopt the most cost effective alternative when issuing major or high impact rules and the administrator of the white house's -- 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 and deceptive financial practices, unsafe 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, cost effective is not even defined in the raa, leaving a critical term ambiguous and likely up to years of litigation to decipher. the raa requires extensive new analysis that will paralyze agencies. the raa would create dozens of new analytical and procedural requirements that all agencies must conduct before issuing

protective safeguards. those time consuming, burdensome, resource intensive, often one-sided requirements would not necessarily improve the quality of the agency decision making process, but rather add extensive delay or complete paralysis to the promulgation of safeguards that americans expect and rely upon to protect their families. the raa would also make the rule making process more adversarial and less accessible. the raa would make it harder for the public, including consumers and consumer organizations and public interest organizations, to participate in the rule making process by requiring adversarial hearing procedures called formal rule making for the most significant rule makes. the raa would also make independent agencies less independent, undermining their

expertise. the raa would tie the hands of independent agencies such as the securities and exchange commission, the consumer product safety commission and the consumer financial protection bureau, which were specifically created to be outside of the political cabinet level agencies for the purpose of ensuring that the expertise of those agencies would guide decision making. and finally, the raa creates more opportunities for those opposed to consumer and environmental and worker protections to intervene and delay or thwart the rule making process. the raa would empower those opposed to rules that regulate their industry to intervene in the regulatory process through suing the agency. the deference that judges have generally afforded to agencies that require scientific and particular 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 over turned in court as judges question science and agency based decision making to protect the public. our speakers this morning will share their experiences with you that compel the need for more regulation and not less, as would be the consequences of the raa.ike to briefly introduce our speakers. amber is from portland, oregon, and will discuss how she was denied justice due to forced arbitration. our second speaker is penny dryden. our third speaker dr. paul brooks is from vienna west virginia and will discuss how his community suffers from

contaminated water. christie chrwill discuss how he0 month old son became sick from salmonella after eating a toddler snack. and 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. i come from a small semirural

community in southern oregon where i lived with my mother as well as san diego where i lived with my father. my mother worked as a bookkeeper, my father set tile. neither of my parents went to college. when i began my studies in 2003, i discovered that i knew very little about the world, much less about how it worked or what was possible within it. i wanted to study every subject and take classes in every department. but the university universe and 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 earning my degrearn ing any degree would translate to a job. i had only just transferred back to 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 so many different subjects that i wasn't anywhere close to fulfilling the requirements of any single major. i left without finishing my degree in 2010. at that time i was scared to take on more debt and decided instead to try to find honest work until the economy recovered a bit. after a few years of working low paying jobs i finally returned and obtained my bachelor of arts in 2013. that same year i enrolled in a graduate level program at the university of pennsylvania. i believed that a degree would at least get my work that paid above the poverty line. i left penn and even achieved straight as my first semester.

i could no longer defer my student loans and was forced to drop out. i returned home absolutely dejected to move back in with my family at age 31. after months of being hounded by dozens of 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 for the future to feeling like i was completely out of options. in 2016 a bankruptcy judge decided that being forced to repay my loans at that point would cause an undue hardship. so it was ruled that some of my loans including those held with citibank would be wiped out. the court granted my ability to get out of default by setting up any payment terms with private lenders as well as the

department of education. you can imagine the sense of relief i felt at regaining control over my situation. after years of 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, my bankruptcy officially clo closed and all of my creditors received notice of the judge's discharge order including citibank. the weight of the past three years was finally lifted and i was free to reestablish myself even as i faced the difficulty of having a bankruptcy on my record. but mere weeks after my discharge city bank ignored the order of the judge and turned me over to collections, threatening my fragile credit as well as my newfound stability if i didn't pay. over the next few months i received multiple collection letters and even found out that my boyfriend's grandmother had

received a call. when the judge found out what citibank did, he ordered the bank's lawyers to show cause why they shouldn't be held in contempt. instead of apologizing or complaining, citibank's lawyers are now arguing that the judge has no power over them because citibank buried a ripoff clause in the fine print of its loan agreement, their lawyers claim that any dispute remnanted to my loan must be decided in secret proceedings even though it has been discharged. in private arbitration, the judge would be unable to enforce any of his orders. a new rule from the consumer financial protection bureau addresses the widespread harm caused by forced arbitration. i would all

it would allow consumers like me to challenge citibank when they break the law rather than having to fight them one by one in secret arbitration. the rule also brings transparency to individual arbitration proceedings by creating a public record of claims and outcomes ensuring banks and lenders cannot use these clauses in order to cover up their illegal behavior. if passed, this resolution could strip consumers of their 7th 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 just 51 votes to pass in the senate. if the rule is repealed, companies like citibank can profit from ignoring the lawful orders of judges and operate outside of the law in a private

justice system. we can't allow powerful corporations to hurt consumers like me, real people, luke a by opting out of state and federal laws. if congress chooses to leave this particular law alone, the regulatory accountability act would block from issuing crucial public protections like this rule to restrict forced arbitration. i urge congress to support the cfpb arbitration rule and vote against the regulatory accountability act. thank you. >> thank you so much, amber. [ applause ]. >> i now introduce penny dryden. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to be here this morning. my name is penny dryden and i am the executive director of

community housing and empowerment connections inc. and i am the chairperson of the delaware branch naacp housing committee. and i was asked to speak today as an affiliate member of the delaware concerned residents for environmental justice. our mission is to inform and empower communities to take action to protect their rights to clean air, water, land and food. the regulatory accountability act would create significant blocks to our rights by making it nearly impossible for agencies like the epa, whose very work is to protect clean air, water or vulnerable communities, create regulations to protect communities. therefore, must oppose the raa.

i grew up in a small environmental justice community right outside of the city of wilmington, delaware, whose residents are predominantly black, low income, have cancer risks that are 19 to 23% higher than more affluent communities. respiratory health risks in my community is 32-43% higher than delaware overall. people there do not know that their homes, schools and playground were built on top of filled marsh and near 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 with breast cancer. and i'm a two-time survivor of breast cancer at 19 and colon cancer at 58. i am now 60 years old and am cancer free, thank god. in addition to having the second highest cancer and respiratory hazard risks within one mile, there are 48 ground fill sites. more than half of all brown fills in delaware. also within one mile are two risk management program facilities, 13 toxic release inventory facilities and four super fund sites.

our communities must remain informed and protected. deregulation or rolling back of the risk management plan rule on chemical facilities that allow communities like mine to be aware of the dangerous chemicals lurking in our backyards is unjust. this deregulatory push must be stopped. the lack of strong regulation on air pollution to local plants and industrial facilities will leave many communities like rose gate right outside of wilmington, delaware, and others more susceptible to asthma and respiratory illnesses. legislation like the raa would make it even harder for our communities to get to protection we need from polluters and industry bad actors.

therefore, i strongly urge the u.s. senate, delaware delegation, senators carper and coons to stand with us. protect us by voting down the regulatory accountability act. what we want our communities in northern new castle county, want a policy approach that addresses a remedy for addressing exposure to both indoor and outdoor air toxins. we support changes in development and land use policies, permits and practices that include addressing cumulative impacts, building materials made for housing, health care facilities and schools including plan for addressing the threats of sea level rise. overall, we want proactive mitigation plans that would

protect us from chemical, natural disasters and climate induced disasters. more, we want to be part of the process because we hold solutions. we believe in the beloved communities. that includes healthy and just employment located along a healthy coast. that is what we are organized and standing for, not deregulation like raa. thank you. [ applause ]. >> thank you so much, penny. i now introduce dr. paul brooks. >> well, i want to pass my gratitude for being able to speak to this conference. it's terribly important.

my name is dr. paul brooks. i've been a physician in parkersburg, west virginia for over 40 years. for over ten years i've been deeply involved with the discovery of the c 8 contamination and the ongoing discovery of diseases that c 8 has been linked to in humans. when c 8 was discovered in the water supply in the middle ohio valley, people in the area were shocked. this occurred early in this century. dupont -- the people trusted e dupont to be forthcoming about the situation and they were not. dupont claimed publicly that c 8 was harmless in humans. and if it were not for outside regulation, thousands of residents of the parkersburg area would still be exposed to unsafe water and would have never known it. that is why we must have

independent regulation. obviously, self-regulation doesn't work. as a result of dupont's decades long coverup of the science behind the c 8 and the contamination in the ohio river and the water supplies in six water districts, have exceeded that regulatory level at th. at that time lawsuits were filed. the state health project was accomplished and the extend of diseases linked to c we8 were exposed. thousands of people in my community have been sickened by c 8 dumped in our water by dupont. we now that c 8 exposure is linked to cancer, ulcerative

colitis. the project began in july of 2005 and was accomplished by june 2006. we collected data from nearly 70,000 residents that were exposed to the water there on at least a one year continuous basis. independent epidemiologists of national and international acclaim gave indications that links to human disease z were likely but they could not make their final determination until all 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 a final reports naming six diseases with probably links to c 8 exposure. meanwhile dupont claims we acted

responsibly even after that was proven to be a lie. the water supplies of parkersburg, 12 million gallons a day and vienna, 1 million gallons a day were lower than the epa nonenforceable advisory of short-term level which was 30 days or less. this was the beginning of the class action lawsuit in 2005. the population felt safe. they generally believed that the advisory level was not exceeded. trial results in federal court, which recently ended this past spring, part of them, the discovery of the extent of dupont's decades long coverup of the science -- contamination of the area with another chemical

named gener d genx has led the y to hold a different opinion of dupont. more contamination was discovered in my town of vienna in 2006. the epa reduced its advisory level and this was the first advisory level with long-term exposure and drinking water to 0.07 parts per billion. that is pretty dilute. wa panic set in immediately. the announcement was made on wednesday and thursday. the city council of vienna met, closed the schools, restaurants and advised citizens and people who supplied water like residents demanded or directed that they use bottled water.

there was a run on bottled water. guards had to be placed around the trucks that brought in the water that you could go and collect from a large tanker truck. and they had to place guards at those trucks. dupont ask-- moors is now the entity. since this past fall, c 8 is not detectable in the vienna water. parkersburg has decliared its water safe because it's still below the epa advisory levels. recent analysis confirmed levels below that. but without regulation, vienna and many other communities would still be drinking contaminated

water to this day. vienna's reaction mirrors other areas in the u.s. and europe when informed that a proven toxic chemical has contaminated them without previous knowledge and then informed it can cause deadly diseases, communities become upset and angry. the following news that we carry calls for now an initial criminal investigation by the netherlands parliament which is now ongoing. in delaware, they are being held accountable for dumping genx into the local water supply. so we are in contact with communities across the country that are dealing with c 8 or

other flor r others. its discovery is now recognized as an international health issue. every human being on this planet will test positive for c 8. my impression at the present is that today a high percentage of citizens in the parkersburg area believe that c 8 is a threat to their health, dupont is responsible and dupont has abandoned the area. dupont was not forthcoming. it took years for parkersburg to know the truth. as a result, parkersburg residents are under constant threat of developing disease and have daily concerns. if our government doesn't protect us, who will?

in conclusion, without meani meaningful regulation, none of the contamination would have been discovered. no one in my community would have found out about the harmful effects of c 8. dupont would have walked away from the largest world wide contamination of a toxic substance untainted and untouched. legislation cannot be allowed to hinder proper and timely regulation. bills like raa could 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, dr. brooks. i would now like to introduce christie from bend, oregon.

>> thank you for organizing this event and inviting me to speak. i'm here today to tell you about what happened to my son beck. food that we assumed was healthy ended up being the worst thing we could have begin our child a -- given our child. back in 2007 beck was just under a year old and one of his favorite foods was a puffed rice snack with kale and spinnish seasoning. we never imagined something could make our child so sick. when beck began having diarrhea, we thought it was just the flu. we took beck to our physician for an exam and our doctor noticed a severe diaper rash had developed from blood and mucus in his diaper. they soon covered the presence

of salmonella, an uncommon bacteria that affects mostly children. about four weeks after beck 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 of just 16 months. they determined that a vegetable seasoning from china was the culprit. beck was sick for ten days. and though we haven't faced any ongoing health problems yet, we know we may face problems in the future because the bacteria infected beck's 10 month old digestive system at such a young developing age. people assume that if a product is being sold on the shelves, it's fine and there must be some inspector out there making sure it's okay. but in reality contaminated foods frequent lly slip through the cracks without being recalled.

the regulatory accountability act would make it more difficult to ensure that the food we feed our children is safe. in 2011 the food safety modernization act authorized the fda to issue additional regulatory protections to prevent contaminated food and respond to outbreaks. but the raa would stop these new protections in their tracks. the regulatory accountability act would add dozens of cumbersome new requirements to the rule making process and put corporate profits ahead of public health and safety when developing new regulations. the legislation would also give corporate lobbyists and lawyers dozens of new ways to dilute, defeat and delay public protections. there's a reason people are calling the raa the filthy food act. that's because it would make our food less safe. it's bad for consumers, bad for family and dangerous to

children. every year about 48 million americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die from eating contaminated food. i have personally met many families who have lost loved ones due to preventible food borne illnesses. our family was lucky that it did not result in losing our child. 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 families don't get sick the way beck did. the raa would block life saving public protections and let big corporations rig the rules. please reconsider your support

for this dangerous legislation. we need to do everything we can to ensure what happened to my family doesn't happen to anyone else. thank you. >> thank you very much. [ applause ]. >> thank you very much. i now introduce mr. timothy frank from hollywood, maryland. >> my name is timothy frank. i have five children. i have five grandchildren. i have another one on the way and i have one that we lost. our precious brianna, who died at age 3 due to strangulation by a venetian blind cord five years ago. in general, i've always thought that i was in favor of limited government regulation of 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 police their own safety standards decade after decade while children continue to needlessly die on products that meet the exact standards that the industry has deemed to be safe. if an industry has the technology but refuses to design out hazards, there must be restraint, there must be regulation and there must be controls to keep these big businesses from destroying our children's lives so needlessly. please help us by opposing this regulation, the regulatory accountability act that will make it difficult or impossible for sense probable teible prote will save lives, prevent injury. 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 receive orders to return to iraq. it would be chris's third tour and christie's second tour. they had two precious little girls at this time, brianna who was almost 2 years old and al alexis who was 7 months old. the grandchildren would stay with the two sets of grandpar t grandparen grandparents. at first i couldn't believe they wanted to leave their children behind and go off to 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, a year we'll never forget, having those precious children with us. parenting young grandchildren

can be challenging for any grandparent. their energy, their emotions and challenges can really stretch grandparents. reliving those early years when our own girls were so small was a tremendous delight and well worth the challenges we faced. here are a couple of entries from my journal from that year when our little girls lived with us. brianna, you were so good with words and expressing yourself at such a young age. i will never forget that time we were drive took the top of the bridge on solomon o's island an you look out at the age of 2 and threw out your arms and proclaimed it's amazing. i could share story after story of our precious brianna.

when christopher and christie returned from iraq in december of 2011 we were very thankful for their safe return. the families reunited and moves back to clarksville, tennessee, where they were stationed. it was on july 10th five years ago that we received the horrible news that our granddaughter brianna had been strangled to death by a blind cord in the upstairs den. it was a simple thing. matter of fact, our kids had installed these heavy duty blinds from a big box store and they had specifically cut the cords because it was recommend don't have those really long cords that are ten feet long. they had done that. unfortunately about a year later they had redone the furniture in the upstairs den and they pushed the couch up against the wall with the blinds behind, not even realizing that was a deadly

danger. so on that debriay brianna had on her little bride outfit and coaxed mommy to marry her. later that day christie was cooking dinner and brianna was upstairs watching a program in the den and christie heard it go really quiet and she went to investigate. you cannot imagine the shock and the horror that christie felt when she went upstairs and discovered brianna hanging there strangled to death by this blind cord. christie was a medical technician and she tried to do cpr but it was too late. brianna was gone. the impact upon our kids and our family was beyond words.

you can never fully recover from the sudden death of a child. christie required from disability from the army due to ptsd and the very serious injuried injury s he had suffered from iraq. christie too lost her army career and is now retired on disability. five years later she still has emotional scars and deep pain on her soul. they were fortunate that they didn't lose their marriage also like many families that have lost a young child. our children were willing to sacrifice a year of their lives with their two little children and they were willing to lay down their own lives because they believed in america. they believed in protecting america. it's a terrible irony and shame that brianna had to be killed in

her own home, which should be a safe haven. for the last 40 years window covering manufacturers have known that their products are killing our children and yet they've been unwilling to stop production and sacrifice their products. we survived this horrible experience but our family will never be the same. we not only lost our granddaughter, but we felt we had lost our little girl because she had lived with us that year. we are heart sick that this industry continues to pass through their safety testing procedures, corded window products that threaten children's play and sleep environments. many tenants including those in hud housing, military soldiers, they have no choice what window coverings are in their homes. their children sleep and play in an environment that are made unsafe by lethal cords in the homes and preschools. it seems wherever i go, i go into people's homes and there's

these venetian blind cords everywhere. it's one of my missions to say do you know that my granddaughter died on a product like this? it can come down in an instant and kill your child in 30 seconds. every single one of these corded products has a cost effective cordless alternative. children have been strangled on cords with safety cheats, with break away cords, with loops that have been tied down and other safety devices that unsuspecting parents have trusted as child safe. i truly believe the regulatory accountability act is misnamed. it really should be the regulatory unaccountability act because it is allowing these companies to be unaccountable for their actions and not have to follow proper procedures and testing in order to have safe products for our own benefit.

it will allow companies to produce products that are the least costly or most cost effective rather than products that maximize net benefits to the public. that seems backwards. what's more important, corporate profits or the lives of our children and our family members? it doesn't make sense to me. i urge everyone to remember our story, to oppose the raa that will make it harder for the u.s. 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 fulfill their missions and protect children and their families. this regulatory accountability act will make it almost impossible to force 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. miles harrison from virginia. >> almost nine years ago it was a typical day of getting everyone up and ready to head out the door as well as myself to work on time. like so many parents, i was multitasking, getting my child ready, making sure we had everything packed and rushing around with the typical morning business. my world changed forever that day. when i went into my office that day, i was focused on fixing all 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. it was the only break of the day. then having no idea what time it was, a colleague 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 realize d. oh my god, no, no, god, no. i rushed to the car and as i 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 seat, unaware of anyone around and ran

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 e.r. the nurse offered my painkillers to help me feel better but i refused and said i did not deserve not to feel the pain. without any compassion, the police demanded that i be brought to the police station and interviewed immediately. the detectives started asking all sorts of questions like do you have life insurance on your son. it started to hit me, i had killed my son.

my poor, sweet little boy. god, take me now and return him to his beautiful mother, please god, not him, me. i had to be hospitalized for several weeks and even registered under a fake name because i would have 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 very public trial, fighting a charge of involuntary manslaughter of which thank god i was found not guilty after three days in the courtroom. it really didn't matter to me whether i was found guilty or innocent. i considered myself guilty, guilty and full of shame. i cry every day for chase.

i still have not forgiven myself and don't know if i have the capacity to do so. i look at my wife in amazement. she has never wavered. she has stayed with me and we are still together. she is the most beautiful and wonderful wife in the world. after the trial, gene winegarten wrote a an article called fatal distraction. he was somehow able to capture the essence of how otherwise wonderful parents could be involved in this nightmare. the death of our precious baby boy became an international incident. the russian government banned all adoptions of american children and named the law after my son chase. we were bombarded with news articles about what a terrible person i am and how this could never happen to responsible

people. but frankly the daily beating i give to myself is far more brutal than anything i have ever read about myself on the internet. this did not have to happen. th. this did not have to happen. if there maz been a simple chime to have alerted me of my son's presence, none of this would have happened. how can this be that in this great country it is not mandatory that the simplest alarm not be required in all cars. children are dying unnecessarily. this has got to stop. we need to pass a law that will set in motion a process to finalize a regulation to require a charm or other reminder to prevent other families from experiencing this tragedy. we already have our work cut out for us. passing a regulation is hard and takes a long time. kids in cars.org has been trying for 15 years to get this technology added to vehicles

unsuccessfully. it's already close to impossible to make these types of changes. but in a bill called the regulatory accountability act or raa is passed and becomes law, it would virtually be impossible for a rule like this to be implemented. would prevent rules from being implemented for other safety problems. the raa will require so much analysis, will require an adversarial system and not take into account the vast benefits of life saving rules such as a rule that could have saved my son chase. in our son chase's honor we've 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 ask why. why does this keep happening when there is technology

available to prevent it. every loving caring parent must realize that this disaster could happen to them. they need to be aware of this phenomena 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 eliminating the crushing pain that causes their parents can be implemented. thank you. [ applause ] >> please join any 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 silently and internally and yet all of these folks have chosen to be out there publicly to

prevent others from suffering the harms they are suffering. please join me in expressing awe and appreciation to them. [ applause ] i now would like to open the floor to questions. please identify yourself before you choose to ask your question. >> i'm mark. press associated union's news service. just one comment on the c-8 and then i'll ask the question. i remember, i've been around long enough to remember the united steelworkers had to deal with a big c-8 pfoa problem. i think it was in oklahoma. so you might want to contact them for aid and analysis there.

the question is one of you mentioned senator portman as the lead sponsor of the raa. obviously this thing is kicking through congress, or going through congress. have any of you had a chance to talk with your lawmakers? and if so, what responses or lack of them have you gotten? >> well, we are actually meeting with our members of congress and their members of congress later today. and we've had a series of meetings and lobby days from all different communities, consumer day and other communities have had lobby days communicating with their members of congress with various results depending, i would say, on where they are. however, we have been hearten that more people have not gotten -- more senators have not

gotten on to the bill and it's incredibly important for these folk to communicate their stories. dr. brooks, do you want to respond? >> well, it's hard to recall how much has gone on in the past few years. but since we established a website, dupontkeepyourpromises, we have sent two or three communications to all of the city, county, state and national representatives in the state of west virginia and ohio. because ohio -- actually five of the six walker districts that became prominent in the class action suit are in ohio. they're on the western side of the river. and we're -- blue back, which is on 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 dupontkeepyourpromises. but we may have knowledge that they got it. we received your communication, but nothing, to the best of my knowledge, has ever been done. of course locally i've been, you know, fairly active from time to time. but you know, we -- let's put it this way. we would have never had the water in vienna, which is a small distribution, a million gallons a day, had it not been for the epa dropping that advisory level that krcreated t panic i alluded to. it would never have occurred.

we'd still be drinking the same contaminated water that was established at, i think, 0.1, most areas in new york, vermont, et cetera. so we're going to have to try to get enough mass, if you will, critical mass to bring, you know, meaningful regulation to this terrible chemical. and it's not always the united states. it's worldwide. okay? >> and i would just like to add, there are many false narratives being perpetuated about the need for regulatory reform. with raa, one specific false narrative is that it's procedural, it meanly amends a 40-year-old law that needs to be changed. that could not be further from the truth. and the stories we've heard today, the real world consequences of making it even

harder to regulate are the strongest response to that false narrative and that's what we'll be talking to senators about today. any other questions before we clo close? okay. well i thank you very much for you time and the speakers will be available for one-on-one interviews after this briefing ends today. thank you very much. [ applause ]

american history t in primetime continues tonight on c-span3 with our original series landmark cases. at 8:00 p.m. eastern we'll look at baker versus carr. in this 1962 case the supreme court ruled that federal courts have the authority to intervene in cases about redistricting. the defendants in the case had argued that drawing legislative districts is a political question, not a judicial one. but the justices ruled courts have a role in deciding the fairness of electoral maps. landmark cases on baker versus carr tonight on c-span3, 8:00 p.m. eastern. next week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3, a civil war special featuring american

history tv highlights. on monday, we're at the emerging civil war blog symposium to look at the great defenses of the civil war, including gettysburg and the siege of vicksburg. tuesday we focus on civil war leadership at the longwood university civil war seminar with talks on generals robert e. lee, ulysses s. grant. wednesday through friday we're at the gettysburg college civil war institute conference. wednesday features lincoln scholar. on thursday speakers including historians and on friday we conclude the conference with author t.j. styles. american history tv civil war special all next week beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3.

♪ all persons having business before the honorable, the supreme court of the united states admonished to draw near and give their attention. >> "landmark cases," c-spans special history series produced in cooperation with the national constitution center. exploring the human stories and constitutional dramas between 12 historic supreme court decisions. >> number 759, ernest miranda, petitioner, versus arizona. >> we will hear arguments in number 18, roe against wade. >> quite often in many of our famous decisions are ones that the court took quite an unpopular. >> let's go through a few cases that illustrate very dramatically and visually what it means to live in a society of 310 million different people who stick together because they believe in a rule of law. good eveni