OBAMA VOWS TO PROTECT KIDS AND BAN TOYS WITH LEAD

CALLS FOR GETTING TOUGH WITH CHINA ON PRODUCT SAFETY STANDARDS

GREENFIELD, IA – Today, Senator Barack Obama called for a ban on toys with more than a trace amount of lead. Over 400,000 children in the United States are currently suffering from lead poisoning from a variety of sources, including toys. Over 80 percent of the toys in this country come from China.

“When I criticized China’s product safety standards recently, an official at China’s foreign ministry said I was being ‘unobjective, unreasonable, and unfair,’” said Senator Obama. “Now, don’t get me wrong: as president, I’ll work with China to keep harmful toys off our shelves. But I’ll also immediately take steps to ensure that all toys are independently tested before they reach our stores, and I’ll significantly increase penalties on companies that break the rules. Because protecting our children isn’t ‘unreasonable’ – it’s our most important obligation as parents and as Americans.”

In 2005, Obama introduced the Lead-Free Toys Act, which would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban children’s products containing more than a trace amount of lead. Following news reports that millions of Chinese-made toys were being recalled because of lead paint, he has also directly pressured toy manufacturers and Bush administration officials to do a better job protecting American children from the threat of imported toys, especially those manufactured in China.

As President, Obama will enact a plan to protect Americans from unsafe products. In addition to banning lead-tainted toys and increasing fines for companies that fail to disclose known safety hazards with their products, Obama will:

1. Double the funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and make sure it has the inspectors it needs to ensure that the goods we’re buying are safe.

2. Expand the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s regulatory powers, and help the agency respond quickly and efficiently when it’s alerted to a problem.

3. Increase fines for companies that fail to disclose known safety hazards with the products they’re making.

4. Appoint a chairman with a proven record of standing up for consumer safety.

Click here for more on Senator Obama’s plan:
http://iowa.barackobama.com/IALeadToys

Obama Vows to Protect Workers from Unfair Trade Deals

New TV Ad “Enough” Highlights Obama’s Commitment to American Workers

U.S. Senator Barack Obama today discussed his commitment to fight for fair trade for America’s workers, reject trade agreements that weren’t in American workers’ best interest, and enforce the agreements we do have. The Obama Campaign also released a new television ad, Enough, in which Obama vows to end tax breaks for companies moving jobs overseas and reward companies that invest in America. To view “Enough”, click HERE.

The Bush Administration has done little to protect Americans whose livelihoods are being threatened by globalization and changes in technology. By failing to enforce U.S. trade agreements, overseas companies and workers have been given an unfair and sometimes illegal advantage over American workers.

“American workers deserve better. When I’m President, we’ll make sure our trading partners live up to their agreements,” Obama said. “We’ll have a trade representative who’s actually representing American workers. And we’ll do more to stop countries like China from acting unfairly when it comes to trade – because no country should get a free pass if they’re bending the rules.”

Obama will make enforcement the top priority of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Office, and he will increase resources for the USTR so it can carry out its responsibility to protect American interests. As President, Obama will only negotiate trade agreements that benefit American workers and have strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in the body of the agreement. In addition, Obama will help workers hurt by the effects of globalization get back on their feet by strengthening training programs and providing assistance for health care costs.

“When I’m President, we’ll give you training before you lose your job if there’s a good chance it will get shipped overseas,” Obama said. “We’ll give you an education account that you can use to retrain. We’ll help ensure that losing your job doesn’t also mean losing your health care by giving you some extra money to pay for it. And we’ll make sure employers give you an additional month’s notice before letting you go – so you have 90 days’ notice, instead of just 60. We’re not going to be able to stop globalization in its tracks, but what we can do is have a President who’s standing up for American farmers and workers. That’s why I’m running for President.”

Below is the script of “Enough”:
B&W still of BO
BO VO:
I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.
BO speaking to town hall sized crowd
BO Synch: Ordinary people all across the country are struggling from paycheck to paycheck.

If the plant moves to China, and you’ve been working there for 20, 30 years and suddenly you have the rug pulled out from under ya…

And you don’t have healthcare, and you don’t have a pension, you’re on your own.

We gotta stop giving tax breaks to companies that are moving overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in IA

In the United States of America.
Barack Obama for President
Iowa.barackobama.com

Approved by Barack Obama. Paid for by Obama for President.
Enough is enough.
For more information on Obama’s plan, click here: iowa.barackobama.com/TradeEnforcement

Obama Discusses Plan to Protect Retirement Security

Today, in Washington, IA, Senator Barack Obama discussed his commitment to protecting retirement security for all Americans. Citing Cedar Rapids resident David Hartgrave, whose $1500 a month pension was cut to under $400 after his company folded, Senator Obama said that as President, he will change laws that protect credit card companies and banks, instead of the American people.

“It’s time to end the outrage of CEOs cashing out while workers lose their pensions. Right now, bankruptcy laws are more focused on protecting banks than the secure retirement that middle class Americans have earned,” said Senator Obama. “It’s time to stop cutting back the safety net for working people while we protect golden parachutes for the well-off. If you work hard and play by the rules, then you’ve earned every dollar of your pension. If a company goes bankrupt, then workers need to be our top priority – not an afterthought.”

Barack Obama has a record of fighting for working families that goes back more than two decades. In the U.S. Senate, he fought against a bankruptcy bill that did more to protect credit card companies and banks than to help working people.

As President, Obama will fight for middle class families by requiring the government to match some of the savings of workers making less than $75,000 a year. He’ll also create an automatic workplace pension enrollment policy that would require employers to enroll employees in retirement accounts. Obama’s retirement security plan will:

Limit circumstances when retirement benefits can be cut, and increase the wages and benefits that workers can claim in bankruptcy court.

Require companies to disclose their pension fund investments, and press them to make their funds solvent.

End the outrage of executives getting bonuses while workers watch pensions disappear.

To read more about Obama’s plan, click here [http://iowa.barackobama.com/RetirementSecurityFactSheet].