This was an amendment by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) prohibiting federal funds from being used to implement or maintain a searchable public consumer safety information database.  This amendment was offered to a continuing resolution funding the federal government through September 2011, and cutting $61 billion in federal funding for many government programs. The public consumer safety database was maintained by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)—the government agency charged with protecting the public from consumer products that pose “unreasonable risks of injury or death…”

Pompeo urged support for his amendment: “This amendment is actually pretty straightforward. It's pretty simple. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 [the law which created the database] called for the creation of a public consumer information database….This will drive jobs overseas. It will increase the cost for manufacturers and consumers. The National Association of Manufacturers has announced its support for this amendment. The Home Appliance Manufacturers, the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the Consumer Specialty Products Associations all have recognized that this regulation is terribly onerous.”

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) opposed the amendment: “This amendment would deny the Consumer Product Safety Commission the implementation of a searchable public consumer safety information database. Now this database was part of a bill that passed this House by 424-1. We required a database, and CPSC is ready to release this database….It would allow consumers to report harms associated with consumer products and then to research risks associated with these particular products. This is exactly what the American people want. They want information. They have a right to know….This amendment is a `keep the consumers in the dark' amendment. Parents want to know if a toy is dangerous. This amendment would take away their right to go to a database that would give them this information.

The House agreed to this amendment by a vote of 234-187. Voting “yea” were 227 Republicans and 7 Democrats. 177 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted “nay.” As a result, the House agreed to an amendment prohibiting funds provided by a continuing resolution from being used to implement or maintain a searchable public consumer safety information database.