what you want. if there are other voices, it gets messier. get a better project that happens. >> i appreciate that. i give back -- i yield back. -- jonathan, you recognize. i'm sorry, but to think that -- -- we yield to mr. johnson. mr. griffiths, thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. one of the primary objectives of order 1000 was remote interregional transmission development. but there is broad consensus that order 1000 failed to achieve that goal. in your opinion, how will this objective he achieved? is clark: part of it attempting in on what you are

trying to a college in the ru le. the rule is expensive. the compliant filings are thousands of pages on top of that. part of the region you get that result is the order tried to do a lot of things all once. it was part of the competition policy, partly an investment policy, partly a regional planning possibly, a cost outpatient policy. some of the dealt with interregional, intraregional. when you push that much out in a rule and expect regions to do some good it, you end up with a lot of bureaucracy and checking compliance boxes. i thinkwhy i say putting the order on a diet and focus on what you're looking at doing would be the most helpful thing. some of it may be reinforcing some of the planning conversations that happened, without the more prescriptive elements of it, and part of it might be focusing on war on the issue of interregional projects

as opposed to spending a lot of time within these regions having that through and manage the type of intraregional projects that were existing prior to the order. >> what would be the advantages of greater interregional transmission? mr. clark: because you have an interconnected grid in the west and the eastern interconnected, the beast or projects that serve a broad regional benefits to have been a benefit that the crews many times -- that accrues many times over. if you are only looking in the region, when i see the benefit of those particular lines. of can be reliability lines. efficiencybe market lines. but some yardstick to compare the interregional types of projects to be valuable, and that may not have been captured quarters.s ferc

>> thank you to all the witnesses who are here. in a subcommittee we recently had a hearing on the state of the grid in puerto rico. i want to thank the committee for continuing to focus on our neighbors in puerto rico. after the army corps of testified theyoe thought they had things on track, they had a major average again. toi would like to ask all supplement the record with any recommendations moving forward. clearly, there is an issue on transmission and the need for micro-grids and more resiliency there. as we work to modernize the with everywhere, and deal the cost of the changing climate and build in greater resiliency, we need to make sure we take advantage of non-transmission

alternatives, such as micro-grids, distributed energy resources, and energy storage, on transmission. they have not only environmental benefits, it can prevent blackouts after natural disasters like we saw in texas and florida and puerto rico this summer. we need to be focusing on the needs of consumers and be smarter. non-transmission -- can be of great and if it concerns. there are recognize benefits of alternatives requiring regional if -- but carter these alternatives are not being utilized the extent they should be come especially given how these advanced technologies such as desk how advanced the technologies have been.

do you think if there was a stronger order that required more than just consideration of alternatives, he would see greater use, and what are the barriers to broader deployment and utilization? >> i do. thank you for the question. for reliability resilience, you improveprove -- you can both by better monitoring the infrastructure. we do it with every form of infrastructure, with better monitoring and control systems and computing power all through our economy. we have these opportunities to monitor and control better. that helps with reliability as well as efficiency. transmission is no different. the only problem is is it is a regulated industry. the incentives are misaligned and the planning requirements are not up to take with the new opportunities we had. -- have. >> thank you for the opportunity

to respond. i would agree with those comments, and i would suggest as somebody who used cap responsibility for keeping lights on, at the end of the day that is the most important thing that all of us are after. and technology is a wonderful thing. it marches along, and yet implementing it in the real world, getting the right kind of investment direct time is always --ng to be critical investment at the right time is always good to be critical, and making sure it works as it relates to the code -- total grid. when an solar are wonderful, and we are agreeing out ways to harness them properly. when the wind does not blow and the senses of china, it is a challenge. you have to have a system designed that can take this intermittent resource, and in the case of micro-grids, turn

troll of your great others, and for people like dr. izzo who have responsibility for judith light on today, that is a pretty nervous thing because if it does not work early, if the tech knowledge he is not fully -- lights go out >> importance of planning and investment. it's very much. >> thank you. seeing there are no further wishingwith -- risky -- to ask questions, i want to thank you for being here. thank you, thank you, thank you. much obliged. i would ask witnesses to submit a letter from reliance and wires. so ordered. pursuant committee rules, that they had 10 business days to smith additional questions with her. i asked witnesses respond within 10 business days upon receipt of the questions. without objection, this subcommittee is adjourned.

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u.s. and foreign automakers went to the white house today. orders reports the executives pushed for a week evening of u.s. steel efficiency standards through 2025 and that president trump will attack the north american free trade agreement. there is the president responding to reporters'

questions. president trump: thank you. we have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world, all represented either top people. and it is nice to see you again. -- probably my first meeting was with you and your group, and we have made a lot of progress. we are working on standards, environmental controls. we're working on how to build cars in the united states. have a great capacity for building. cars, importing a lot of and we want a lot of those cars to be made in the united states. what we would do quickly, because we're represented by so much media, we would just run around the room real quickly and you can introduce yourself and the company. we will talk for a couple minutes, and we will talk privately. but we are going to again for the media, we're really talking about environmental control cafe standards, and manufacturing of

millions of more cars within the united states. michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, for all the different places. south carolina, getting bigger and bigger. north carolina. so larry, everybody nice. go ahead. >> elaine chao. >> scott becker with nissan. volkswagen's group of america. >> bob carter. >> [indiscernible] president trump: and by the way, thank you. you are moving to michigan from mexico. that is what we like. he is my favorite man in the room. [applause] president trump: the people in michigan appreciated. it is a big deal of it and was very well received. i appreciate it. thank you. >> general motors.

>> [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] >> honda north america. automobileance of infectious. >> global automakers. >> [indiscernible] pruitt, director, epa. >> jim hackett, ford motor company. president trump: that is right, jim. we know you well. these are the biggest in the world, and we are talking to them, and we want them to build cars in the united is, and building here and ship them overseas. we are doing a reverse act, and that will be something that is happening and we see it happening. a lot of it has to do with the great tax cuts and tax incentives that people have been given. and we have other incentives coming. so we appreciate you all being him. and thank you very much, everybody. appreciated. confidenceo you have

and administrator pruitt? president trump: yes, i do. [indiscernible] nafta you concerned that -- president trump: we will see what happens. we are negotiating nafta i have never been a nafta plan. it has been one of the worst trade deals in history. we have some bad deals in this country. between the iran deal, nafta, we can look at any deal, bad deals. nafta is spent a terrible the we are renegotiating it now. we will see what happens. mexico and canada -- look, they do not like to lose the golden views, that i am representing united states. i am not representing a single, and i am not representing canada. that has been a horrible, horrible disaster for the country, and we will see we can make it reasonable. >> [indiscernible] >> thank you very much. >> next, an overview on the role

of the consumer product safety commission and the agency's priority for the coming year. the acting chair spoke for about 30 minutes. >> good morning. never sure about these microphones. good morning, everybody. i'm one of the commissioners at the consumer product safety commission. it is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce this morning's keynote speaker, acting chairman. i will digress for one quick second because i wanted to recognize two exceptional folks. first, no surprise, steve brobeck who has been the executive director of cfa for 37 or 30 years, depending on when the clock started. what an exceptional career, and i have to say yesterday, when he got a standing ovation, if i could have done projectile

tears, i would have. it was such a moving moment. yet the person is rachel weintraub. rachel must be one of the most hardest working people populate the earth. [applause] mr. adler: every panel i went to yesterday she was introducing the speaker and she was moderating the panel, and, rachel, your questions were so incisive. and you brought out the best in the speakers. they were terrific panels, and i give you great credit for that. turning now to anne-marie, she has had a truly distinguished career, starting out as a nurse in 1972, and 20-plus years later, graduated from syracuse law school -- are you ready for this question mark -- while raising six children, and believe me, she raised -- and i think you now have 70 grandchildren. am i correct about that? as a lawyer, she served as an assistant new york state

attorney general on behalf of upstate medical diversity for 13 years before running for and winning a seat in the u.s. house of representatives from new york's 25th district. she joined the commission in 2070 aboutn february she was voted in unanimously as the acting chair by her fellow commissioners. on july 24 last year, president trump nominated anne-marie to be permanent chair and to receive a seven-year term as commissioner. anne-marie has been my esteemed friend -- esteemed colleague and good friend for the past five years. not withe to say this, standing the fact that she and i almost never vote the same way when it comes to product safety issues. the votes,er most of we look at each other and we scratch our heads and say, how can somebody i like so much and respect so much be so dammed wrong consistently? [laughter] up adler: i have not given

trying to change her mind and vice versa. it is done with great respect. in spite of our disagreements on policy, anne-marie has been a terrific addition. as a starting point, unlike many new appointees with this administration, dare i say, anne-marie recognized early on the extraordinary talent and dedication of cpsc staff. she has treated them with respect, has listened to them at all times. she buys completely the need for diversity at all levels of the agencies, and she has worked tirelessly to promote it. further -- and she has been a fairly lonely voice, and i think she has been the lonely voice of long folks named but -- among folks named to the administration in that she has fought for an extended budget for cpsc. we are a tiny agency, and if you look at fda, their request for

an increase in funds and not getting them, that their request for increased funds, that is bigger than our entire budget. we are a very tiny agency. we owe her a huge debt of gratitude for her strong support. i want to close by commending her for insistence on running andagency with dignity civility. at times she has had to put up with colleagues going broke on her, probably including me. she has already -- always responded in-kind -- i think most people at the agency would agree with me on this. she is a good person who listens to any and all voices, who acts with integrity, and humanities the agency as an honest broker. with great pleasure, i present anne-marie -- [applause] you, aaron much, for

that kind introduction. out, all wed disagree on many issues, we have found a way to have a civil and substantive discussion about these issues. i think that is a lesson we could really carry across washington and across the country, because no one is going to ever agree with everyone on anything, and that is how life is. but being able to discuss it and move the ball forward, in particular when you talk about consumer safety, that kind of conversation is critical. bob, hisso appreciate thoughtfulness, his love of the agency, his concern for the integrity of the agency, and his willingness to never -- and i mean never -- put himself first. it is not about bob adler. it is about consumer safety. so we share that come and that is where we start from, and has cpsc, theyve years at

have been five wonderful years with adler. we love -- and that is what our true on the is. i want to begin by thanking the consumer federation of america for this opportunity to be here. bob spoke about rachel, but i want to take a minute to appreciate what rachel does to advance product safety and consumer safety. foris a tireless fighter the consumer and for consumer safety. if there is an event, if there is a hearing, if there is a briefing, rachel is there an rachel provides such important inputs. and so we've recognize her with, and i want to recognize her again. the consumer is much safer because of rachel weintraub and what she does for most sumer cd and product safety. [applause] buerkle: and i will say

about rachel, she promotes and she works on behalf of the consumer, but she does it in a thoughtful way. she doesn't in a way that engages all of us, and she doesn't in a way that finds that common ground and seeks to find solutions. it is one thing to just talk, and a lot of people just love to talk. solutions ising the key here, and that is what rachel is always trying to do, and i so appreciate her willingness to do that at her willingness to invite me here today. so thank you very much. which is really good, because i have about three pages. many of you do not know me. i was going to introduce myself, and i thank you for giving everybody my bio. nurse, and inas a 1969 when i graduated from high school, i went to a small catholic high school, he walked

into the guidance office, and the sister who was your typing teacher, your bikini teacher, and your guidance counselor, gave you a few choices, and one of those choices was to be a ,eacher, a nurse, a homemaker or you could become a nun and go into the convent and have a vocation, is what they always push first and last. i chose nursing, and i love nursing. is amy youngest daughters nurse. is -- it is a true profession of efficacy. that is where i got my roots, and started there, being an advocate for patients. and in 1991, i decided i wanted to go back to school, and by and i had the six kids university gave me a driven opportunity because i was a nontraditional student. my oldest son was 50. why on this one was for, and she would come with me when she was not in daycare, and i went to loss goal and i am forever

grateful to the university for that opportunity because many would not be willing to take that risk. for thew school, i work attorney general. -- we did the contract and all the insurance efforts. 13that is what i did for years. then i decided i was going to run for congress. i spent her teen years being an advocate at the hospital, into congress, and despite you hear about members of congress and the functionality of congress, most in congress want to do the right thing. they are advocates for the people in their districts. onethat is what i did for term, and in 2013, i was not reelected, and president obama, to mitch mcconnell's office, asked him you want to be a

commissioner for the sumer product safety commission? and i said i'm not sure what that is. i took on the role, and that is where i first met bob adler. he sent me an email, what coming -- welcoming me to the agency. and then to be there in the last five years, with the election. my colleagues chose me to be the vice chair. the way it works there, the vice chair becomes the acting chair. so when the administration chair, i became the vice chair and the acting chair. i'm the acting chair right now. and the status of the agency , i would is a bit odd say, and if you watched any of our hearings or briefings, you will notice there is only one republican and three democrats ,n a republican administration that is a not situation, and to be a chairman in the minority is a not situation, which is why i appreciate bob very much.

so i am waiting to be confirmed by the senate. there's another person -- her --she willa bianco replace commissioner robinson, and there is a third vacancy created by a commissioner leaving the agency. so there will be another appointment to that position. then we will be at full tilt, five commissioners. this morning i wanted to talk recently about my priorities, and then i want to do a number of issues that are of interest to you and what is going on at the agency now. my priorities -- and it is important to realize cpsc's priorities are guided -- i will not say rigidly, but sort of rigidly -- by our regulatory agenda, by our strategic land, and by our operating plan. no one person can direct the agency in one direction. those are plants we all agree on

an eight to move the agency forward. i will encourage, as my role of acting chair, i will encourage a few priorities of my own. first, identify the highest priority risk and hazard and emerging hazards. that is key. we have to be careful not to look at the shiny object, becky allies was on what emerging hazards are and what our highest priorities are and highest rents. we are a small easy. our budget ranges in the area of $125 million to 100 $30 million, and by all government accounts, that is all. i will say to you, when you are in the legislative branch you are not involved in running an agency, your thought is we need to cut spending. and i am very concerned about our national debt. however, when you are tried to run an agency, you have to have resources to a college or mission and be able to enforce your laws that you are retards do.

i have been an advocate. i have worked with omb, the white house, and with congress, and we will be back there. bob and i will be there in a few weeks to meet with the senate side about funding agency at a level where we get even keep level with inflation, kennedy able to do what i want to do, that is to look out over the horizon and see these emerging technologies and these emerging hazards and be poised and able to respond to them as an agency. so appropriate levels of funding are important to what we do. secondly, i would like to improve our imports surveillance. third, strengthen collaboration, education, and out reach, and four, enhance the agency's -- data capabilities. i will touch on each of those four issues. cpsc's mission is to protect the consumer from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with any consumer project in our jurisdiction. ensuret we need to do is

that our resources are dedicated to those highest risks and priorities and that we focus on emerging technologies. we have to be keen and be able to pay attention to what is going on out there. we have seen this play out with batteries, both in hoverboard's and phones, so we know while emergency technologies and new technologies can be coupled to the consumer they also pose risks that we need to be aware of paying attention to. imports surveillance, the best way to keep the consumer sake is keep those unsafe products out of the stream of products, prevent them from coming in. i serve as vice chairman of an authorization called biec, which is the border interagency enforcement council. bp to takeosely with cp

sure that us and other agencies have presence at the ports. we have field investigators code located at the ports and we work closely with them in our risk assessment of algae to make sure paying attention to the products that are coming into the country so we can keep unsafe products and violative products out of the stream of commerce it is much easier to stop them at the port and it is to get them back once they are out with the consumer. collaboration and education and outreach is i think critical to the agency's success, and it is something that is very important to me. we have just over about 15,000 types of consumer products. therefore, we cannot do it alone not with our limited object and with our limited staff and the expertise of our staff. as good as they are, we need to reach out and be engaged with other stakeholders must advance our mission, and that is why rachel's participation and other

stakeholders' participation is so key because we need that input, we need that expertise at the agency. -- and you are all familiar with what we do in terms of consumer education. we have our campaign, her full safety campaign. we have a number of campaigns. now we are in the middle of the portable generators and carbon monoxide as we prepare for the hurricane season. those kinds of safety campaigns. they are key in helping the consumer even understand and appreciate the risks associated with some consumer products. i think that is a very important part of what we do. at the same time have to teach the regulated community what to expect of them, how are you going to comply with our laws and regulations? -- or yourcause products are not going to get into the stream of commerce, or once in, we will have to pull them out in a recall. what we have done and we have an active with it, and bob mentioned our staff have been

terrific. we have a remarkable small business ombudsman who has been excellent in her webinars, in her work to try to inform and educate small business owners and new people are trying to get into business. shelby medicine is her name, and will work with her. they are now developing a regulatory robot, which you have heard of. they are u upgrading it to be a regulatory robot, which will be good for small businesses. if you have a product, how do you regulate it? that will be acted by the end of r friendlythis new use an regulatory robot. our team is an important component of consumer safety. don't project safety agency --

no product safety agency can not pay attention to the international commerce and what is going on today. i want to talk briefly about what we have done, what our international team has done in terms -- and they work closely with our hazard identification team in doing these worldwide seminars to help educate the regulated community. years, we past 2 1/2 have trained over 2500 industry representatives overseas on product safety requirements. last year, i spoke at one for bicycle manufacturers in taiwan, and saw firsthand these seminars are so popular because it is so much easier execute and to comply with our laws and regulations if you know what they are and you understand them. last year in china we held our first ever training day for -- attended by well over 200 test assessment professionals.

speaking of buyers training, the international team conducted 3 this past march when in shanghai, one in ho chi minh city, so they are very active in talking about educating the stakeholders in the regulated immunity. last week cpsc hosted our north american summit. we hosted canada, and we talked about keeping all of north america say. we do many bilateral and trilateral recalls with our partner countries and understanding what did you with what they are dealing with, so we had to bang full days. one was a closed meeting on the government side with just the government staff and then than and then thepen -- next day was opened with public forwards and how we can work that are, how we can work more efficiently to keep the consumer safe in all of north america. that was last week. and next month we will host the

e.u. and china for another trilateral summit. we look forward to that as well. again, is kinds of conversations are key to keeping the consumer safe. and then lastly, one of my priorities is data. we need to be able to expand our sources of data and our capabilities of analyzing that data. it is one thing to get in a of data, but if we do not have the resources, staff, and the technology to assess that data, understand where the risks and hazards are, it gets for naught. so we need to improve on both his friends. we need to be constantly looking around and being aware of new sources of data that will enhance our capabilities to assess risks and hazards that are out there. of we recently had our priorities hearing, and when we look at sources of data, it is important to talk about safer product.gov.

threat the course of the hearing, it was raised. rachel was one who raised it, but others raised it. roduct.gov needs to be made more user-friendly. we will work to do that in the weeks and months ahead see what we can do and put that in the operating plans of we can make that source of data even more effective and more user-friendly. then we need to raise awareness to the consumer that that is a good portal for you to share your experience and information with us. stay tuned. there will be improvements, and work is being done in consideration of saferproduct s.gov. just a couple of other issues that the agency is focused on and paying attention to, just to bring you up to speed on agency.

the first thing is voluntary standards. the voluntary standards are critical in safety development, and it is really a very significant part of what we do at cpsc. our staff is engaged in over 70 voluntary standards committees. so we are actively involved. a few years back we get our staff the ability to vote and take leadership positions on these voluntary standards committees because we believe in and we have been directed by congress that when the voluntary standard will adequately address the hazard and when it will be complied with with the regulated community that that is their preference for us. voluntary standards are an import part of what we do, and we are actively involved in it, and i again want to thank rachel and the consumer federation of america for her active involvement. rachel -- i do not know how you do it. on every issue that is brought

up -- bob mentioned it and i will mention it -- rachel is there and is well informed and ensuring important message. thank you. the next issue you may have --rd on recall effectiveness it is a challenge to the agency. on a number of levels, for a number of reasons. it is a very thought-provoking issue. trying to understand how we can get the consumer to listen and even react to a recall. it is a challenge for all of us. identified that there is a substantial product hazard and that a product needs to be recalled. does a recall, we need to get consumers attention. september, we had a recall

sectors workshop. as a result, you can look on her website. discussions were had about to recall effectiveness. it seems like we have gone silent on this issue. we have tried to determine what the best way forward is. thing we have identified in all the the work that has gone into recall effectiveness is that if we can get to the consumer directly and have direct access to the consumer, that is how we are going to let them know about this recall and what their options are. and where and why to return it. hard,is working extremely and you will see more in the near future, about what staff is doing for because effectiveness. emerging technologies and iot. i mentioned that.

i know you have a panel on emerging technologies. mentioned, these products and smart products can enhance consumers lives. but we have to be careful. enhancement, that there is new technology, and there can be issues. the privacy and to be security issues, we see that is not our jurisdiction. that is ftc. believe is when there is a breach of any sort, when there is a function in that software, that can affect product safety of what ever the product is. that is concerning to us and that would be of concern to us. i have asked staff to have an emergency ring on iot. we have an emergency hearing next wednesday the 16th. so far, we have at least 15

presenters coming in. there has been a good response, with all kinds of people coming in to testify about iot. we need to be informed on the issue. what are the possible safety issues we could encounter? rachel will be there to share ideas and thoughts. beyond the iot and smart products, there is big data and e-commerce. those are all issues. we need to be paying attention and involved in those discussions. next june, amazon is hosting and we will have the opportunity to talk to them about e-commerce.

that will be key to how we address some of these issues. i have a sign over there. i have a few minutes left. i just want to mention furniture tip-overs. that is another issue, a high priority in our agency. agencyy leadership, the will be pursuing vigorously voluntary standards and educational campaigns. it is a multifaceted approach to a very difficult problem, one that can kill young children. toneed to figure out a way make this safe for children. we are aggressively working on that issue at the agency. another, irings is think. thanks to rachel and all the