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Americans should trust that the products they buy are safe for their families. But headlines revealing lead paint in imported toys, daily recalls of faulty products, unsafe food in our grocery stores, and questionable medicines in our cabinets have made parents and consumers anxious. Government must live up to its responsibility to protect our children. Parents should not have to buy a lead testing kit before letting their children play. Standards must be established, inspections must be rigorous and strict penalties must be enforced.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has failed to protect American consumers and our children. It only has 15 inspectors to police the millions of toys and consumer products coming into the country at hundreds of entry points. And it has only one full-time toy tester.

From the Judiciary Committee:

Conyers to Demand Answers on Destroyed CIA Tapes

(Washington, DC)- Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing to examine the Department of Justice's role in the recently announced destruction of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) interrogation videotapes and the issue of torture tactics used during interrogations. The hearing on, "The Applicability of Federal Criminal Laws to the Interrogation of Detainees" will be held tomorrow, December 20 at 10 a.m. in room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

WHO: House Judiciary Committee

Stephen Saltzburg, The George Washington University Law School

John Radsan, William Mitchell Law School

David Rivkin, Baker and Hostetler, LLC

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security has just concluded a hearing, "Enforcement of Federal Criminal Law to Protect Americans Working for U.S. Contractors in Iraq."Rep. Ted Poe (TX-02), Jamie Leigh Jones (pdf), a former employee of Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), and Scott Horton (pdf), Adjunct Professor of Law at the Columbia University School of Law gave testimony. A Justice Department official was expected to attend the hearing for questions on law enforcement and contractors, but did not appear. Rep.