Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act

Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce bipartisan legislation with Senator Collins today to improve safety standards on products that affect every single American household. Most people assume that the personal care products they use every day are safe, whether it is shampoo or shaving cream, lotion or make-up, hair dye or deodorant.

In reality, however, these products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for safety before being sold, and the FDA's authority to regulate these products are sorely outdated. In fact, it's been more than eighty years since the law has changed on how oversight is conducted for these products. It is time to finally bring the FDA into the 21st century.

For the better part of a decade, Senator Collins and I have worked with a wide variety of stakeholders that represent industry, consumers, and health groups. Together, we introduce this Personal Care Products Safety bill with the support and input of these groups to implement commonsense and feasible measures.

One of the most critical components of this legislation is providing FDA with mandatory recall authority over these products. Without this authority, the agency has few options to ensure consumer safety.

For example, in 2019, the FDA discovered asbestos in make-up marketed to children and teens at a popular chain store. After the FDA requested that these products stop being sold, the company refused to comply with the request. Lacking the authority to mandate a recall, FDA was left with the only option of warning consumers not to use these products. This is simply unacceptable.

Under our bill, the FDA could remove these harmful products from the marketplace--whether at your local pharmacy or mall, or online. Perhaps even more importantly, our bill would set forth regulations to outline good manufacturing practices for personal care products and prevent harmful products from ever being sold.

Our bill would also require companies to register with the FDA so that the agency knows who is manufacturing personal care products and where they are being made before arriving in stores. Companies would also be required to disclose their list of ingredients, attest that they have safety records for their products, and report serious adverse events, such as infections that required medical treatment, to FDA within 15 days after being notified that one occurred.

This bill would also require the FDA to evaluate at least five ingredients per year for safety and whether they should be used in personal care products. There would be opportunities for companies, scientists, consumer groups, medical professionals, and other members of the public to weigh in not only on the safety of particular ingredients but also which ingredients should be a priority for review.

As I've said before, the ``Personal Care Products Safety Act'' is the result of many diverse groups working together to ensure businesses are able to provide the safest products possible to consumers. As such, this legislation also recognizes the needs of small businesses and provides flexibility to ensure they are able to comply with these new regulations while also upholding strong safety standards that protect consumers.

I am pleased that this legislation has the support of a broad coalition, including the Environmental Working Group, Beautycounter, Estee Lauder, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Revlon, L'Oreal USA, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, the Endocrine Society, March of Dimes, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, the National Women's Health Network, Au Naturale Cosmetics, Burt's Bees Company, The Clorox Company, the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild, and Procter & Gamble.

I want to thank Senator Collins for her support as well as her staff for their hard work on this important legislation. I urge my colleagues to join us in modernizing our outdated regulatory system for personal care products, and I hope the Senate will finally pass this long overdue legislation this year.

Thank you Madam President. I yield the Floor.

Madam President, one topic there is much agreement on is the benefits of work, and our laws should support those who want to work. The bill I am introducing today will change Social Security so that parents and their children will know that working will never disadvantage them in the future.

Let me explain the problem. Under current law, a child with a disability that began before age 22 may receive a Social Security benefit based on the work of a disabled, retired or deceased parent. Often the child receives this benefit for the rest of their life. Social Security provides the benefit because the child is usually dependent on their parents for financial support. The problem is that the law regards earnings by the child above $1,310 a month as ending that dependency--even if the child is no longer able to maintain that level of work in the future. When that dependency ends, the child ceases to be eligible for the benefit from the parent. Instead, the child would receive a benefit based on their work. The benefit from the parent's work is often significantly larger than the child's own benefit. Because of this policy, parents of children with disabilities may prevent their child from working at their full potential, fearing that the work will cause the child to lose out on the larger benefit. We need to change Social Security to ensure parents and their children that working will not cause them to be worse off in the future.

To provide that assurance, I am introducing the Work Without Worry Act. The bill ensures that any individual with a disability that began before age 22 will receive the larger of the benefit from either their parent's work or the benefit from their own work. Any earnings from work--no matter how much--will not prevent the child from receiving a Social Security benefit from their parent's work as long as the child is eligible for disability insurance by the same impairment from before age 22. This legislation would give parents the assurance that their child with a disability can work without having to worry that the child will lose out on the full protections that Social Security provides.

I want to thank Kathy Holmquist, President of Pathways to Independence, Inc. in Portland, Oregon, who has been a leader in my state helping people with disabilities live and work with dignity. Kathy contacted me about the need for this legislation and I appreciate her advocacy and support. Additional thanks to The Arc for the technical assistance and endorsement of the bill. The bill is also endorsed by the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Social Security Task Force, National Down Syndrome Congress, and The Association of University Centers on Disabilities. I am grateful that Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Larson is introducing the companion bill in the House of Representatives. The Senate bill is cosponsored by Senators Cassidy, Brown, Klobuchar, Sanders, Leahy, Merkley and Casey.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record.

So ordered

Mr. President, I rise to introduce the ``Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act.''

This legislation recognizes the need to hold bad actors accountable-- period.

In order to build trust in our system of justice, we must allow individuals the right to sue Federal law enforcement agencies when the actions of

their officers lead to a violation of rights.

This legislation would provide a right of action for an individual to sue a Federal law enforcement officer and agency for harm resulting from a violation of their civil and constitutional rights.

42 USC Sec. 1983 currently provides this right of action for state and local law enforcement officers who violate a person's rights. However, there is currently no statutory equivalent that extends this right to incidents involving federal law enforcement officers and agencies.

Because Americans lack this right, there is a gap in accountability that urgently needs to be filled. This legislation fills that gap by allowing individuals to sue federal officers, just as they can sue state and local officers. It would also allow individuals to sue federal law enforcement agencies. The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the federal government will not be liable in suit unless it waives its immunity and consents. This legislation recognizes the need for such a waiver.

While extending this right will not automatically end all cases of abuse by certain law enforcement officers, it will give the American people an important tool to fight against injustice while also demonstrating that the time is now to address police brutality.

While the United States Supreme Court has addressed the absence of a right of action against Federal officers before, the scope of the provided ``remedy'' has been kept extremely narrow. Without a statute in place, this right will continue to be under-utilized and could disappear whenever the Court sees fit.

Americans deserve better. We all deserve to have our constitutional rights respected, and we deserve a system that will hold bad actors accountable. This is too urgent a need to go unaddressed.

Public safety is a two-way street. We, as citizens, honor our officers and trust law enforcement to keep our streets safe and peaceful. In return, we expect officers to be held to account for bad behavior. Anything less undermines public safety.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the ``Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act'' as quickly as possible.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.