To be more precise, Rep. Henry Waxman, the extremely authoritarian Democrat from California who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He recently held a hearing on the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, calling only one witness, namely Inez Tenenbaum who chairs the Consumer Product Safety Commission and supports the law.
The problem, as Walter Olson notes in this WSJ article today is that the law is making life miserable for many small businesses in return for safety increases that are mostly imaginary.
The arrogance of power is on full display in Washington.
