About Us

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is an alliance of more than 200 consumer, labor, scientific, research, faith, community, environmental, small business, good government, public health, and public interest groups — representing millions of Americans. We are joined in the belief that our country’s system of regulatory safeguards should secure our quality of life, protect our economy, and benefit us all.

Federal regulations protecting our food and consumer products, clean air and drinking water, healthy working conditions, equal opportunity, and reliable financial institutions protect all of us from harm. Failure to provide adequate safeguards harms our economic well-being, undermines public health and safety, and allows corporate wrongdoers and criminals to escape accountability for hurting workers, consumers, families, and our environment.

Our coalition’s goal is to strengthen our system of safeguards and defeat threats to its integrity and effectiveness. Our approach includes the following elements:

Advocacy

CSS members convene regularly to discuss strategies and tactics. We write to, meet with, and conduct briefings for lawmakers and their staff, agency administrators, and reporters when critical issues are in play. CSS advocates for important reforms to administrative processes that can improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of rulemaking – such as the Stop Corporate Capture Act.

In addition, CSS, through its leadership of the Clean Budget Coalition, is committed to removing poison pill policy riders from the annual spending bills. The coalition’s engagement on this issue is driven by the preponderance of harmful riders that would block, repeal, or weaken both existing and forthcoming regulatory protections.

Research

CSS commissions original studies and shares reports, commissions polling, and authors testimony for Congress. The purpose of this research is to foster an honest and constructive public dialogue around the issue of regulation. Members of the coalition conduct research on the following topics:

• The benefits of regulation – both economic and qualitative;
• The costs of irresponsible deregulation in key industries;
• The costs of regulatory delay and inadequate regulatory enforcement; and
• The role that campaign contributions, lobbying, and corporate influence play in distorting the regulatory process.

We use this research to support coalition actions and to educate the public, the press, federal regulators, the White House, and Congress.

Communications

CSS reaches out to journalists, making available a diverse range of policy experts with a deep understanding of regulatory issues. The coalition’s websites are intended to showcase our work and serve as resources for anyone interested in learning about regulatory issues and joining the fight to defend and strengthen our system of public protections. The coalition also circulates weekday news clips to keep members informed and up to date.