President’s Call for Executive Actions Welcome, Must Be Followed by Bold Action

Federal Agencies Must be Given Full Support of the White House

January 29, 2014

Contact: Ben Somberg, (202) 588-7742 or Brian Gumm, (202) 683-4812

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address, leaders of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS) issued the following statements:

Katherine McFate, president and CEO of the Center for Effective Government and CSS co-chair: “We enthusiastically endorse the president’s decision to move executive actions to advance the public interest. The president should start by ensuring that important new health and safety standards move through the federal system and are operational on the ground. The recent West Virginia water contamination case and the explosion in West, Texas, last year vividly demonstrate the need for better public safeguards. There’s much the executive branch can do to better protect the quality of life in communities all over the country.”

Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen and CSS co-chair: “The Obama administration has three years left to enact a slate of long-delayed rules on food safety, the environment, worker safety and more, and the clock is ticking. The White House needs to remove its self-imposed barriers to action and ensure the agencies get these rules done for the public.”

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The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is an alliance of consumer, labor, scientific, research, good government, faith, community, health, environmental, and public interest groups, as well as concerned individuals, joined in the belief that our country’s system of regulatory safeguards provides a stable framework that secures our quality of life and paves the way for a sound economy that benefits us all. For more information about the coalition, go to www.sensiblesafeguards.org.