The Senate is currently debating the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill and a vote on the legislation’s final passage could occur this week.

“Evidence suggests that that there is a real serious issue here,” Sen. Landrieu said. “Hundreds of people have called my office very concerned about the smells, the corrosive impacts of the product and its health effects. It is very important that consumers get to the bottom line of what this product is, how it is manufactured and what the health ramifications are. Our amendment will help the Consumer Product Safety Commission investigate these questions.”

“We need definitive answers now on whether Chinese-made drywall is causing health problems,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. “If more testing is required, then we need to make it happen.” Funds provided by the Nelson-Landrieu amendment would mean that results from tests conducted on the Chinese drywall could be available in as soon as six months. Inaction by Congress may delay CPSC’s and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) testing by as much as one year. The $2 million allocated by the amendment would also fund a public information campaign for impacted homeowners.

“This imported drywall issue has pervaded all areas of Louisiana that have been involved in the rebuilding effort,” Sen. Landrieu said. “But now the problem is even more widespread than we originally believed. When Sen. Nelson and I started working on this issue we thought it was isolated to Florida, Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast. We are now getting reports from across the country, from California to Wisconsin to Virginia. This challenge is not just facing the Gulf Coast — this defective product is truly a problem facing our whole nation. That makes this $2 million for the CPSC even more important and urgent. We cannot afford further delay.”

Sens. Landrieu and Nelson have spearheaded the effort to address the growing Chinese drywall problem, which has now impacted 13 states and the District of Columbia. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the Consumer Product Safety Commission, granted Landrieu and Nelson’s request to hold a public hearing on tainted Chinese drywall. The Committee has given Sen. Landrieu the opportunity to attend tomorrow’s subcommittee hearing to question federal witnesses and discuss legislative efforts to bolster federal response for impacted homeowners.

In late March, Sens. Landrieu and Nelson introduced legislation aimed at initiating a Consumer Product Safety Commission recall and imposing an immediate ban on defective building products from China. The Nelson-Landrieu legislation also asks the CPSC to work with federal testing labs and the EPA to determine the level of hazard certain chemicals pose and as yet unidentified organic compounds in the drywall.

Homeowners in 13 states, including hundreds in Louisiana, have reported metal corrosion, noxious fumes and health concerns in homes with imported Chinese drywall. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the devastating flooding that followed damaged more than 1.2 million units of housing, with more than 309,000 of those units sustaining major or severe damage. While Florida has received 60 percent of imported Chinese drywall since 2006, Louisiana is the second-highest — the state is the recipient of 60.2 million pounds. An estimated 7,000 Louisiana homes have the product, and as many as 100,000 homes nationwide could be affected.

Sens. Landrieu and Nelson discuss the amendment in a radio actuality:

http://landrieu.senate.gov/media/09.05.20_Chinese_Drywall_Audio.mp3

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