Senate Financial Services Spending Bill Would Ban Funds for CPSC Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles Rule
The Senate Financial Services and General Government draft appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018 would prevent funds from being used to implement mandatory standards for recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) until the Consumer Product Safety Commission completes a study with the National Academy of Sciences. Released Nov. 20, the legislation directs the study to examine whether regulations proposed in 2014 (see 1411180014) would prevent off-road rollovers and the degree to which the rule would reduce such occurrences, among other things.
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The bill awaits Senate consideration, as there won't be individual markups for the last four FY18 spending bills written by the committee, which includes Homeland Security appropriations, a committee spokesman said. The spending bills are being introduced now because it's "so late in the year and there's a need to establish a Senate position on bills which have been held up for several issues -- including the lack of budget agreement to address the restrictions within the Budget Control Act of 2011," the spokesman said in an email. The lack of markups isn't "preferable for [committee] Chairman [Thad] Cochran, [R,Miss., but] follows precedent set in previous congresses." The committee was set to consider whether to clear FY18 Homeland Security funding legislation early in the afternoon of Nov. 21, the spokesman said.
Committee Democrats in a statement criticized the Financial Services bill's proposal to fund the CPSC at $123 million, $3 million less than the FY17 enacted level, asserting that the reduction will delay enhancements in import surveillance technology, and noting that the legislation is projected to force CPSC to cut 22 full-time equivalents, leaving ports understaffed for import surveillance. Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., would have proposed $10 million more for the CPSC, "had the Full Committee convened to mark up the draft bill," the statement says.