Masonry Magazine April 1973 Page. 30
Washington Wire
THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION may get more power to protect consumers. It wants Congress to move quickly to enact tough new legislative authority. The agency seeks authority to obtain injunctions to halt deceptive practices. With this authority, the Commission could stop such practices immediately, prior to the final resolution of long-delayed cease-and-desist proceedings. The Commission also seeks authority to appear in court on its own behalf. Currently, the Justice Department represents the agency in all litigation. The FTC also wants to double the top civil penalty of $5,000 it can impose.
FTC has helped its cause by dropping support of a controversial plan that would have affirmed by statute its broad rule-making power. Insistence on this provision last year prevented the passage of the entire bill. Now the Commission will rely on the courts to uphold its authority to promulgate new rules.
GOVERNMENT TRUST-BUSTERS HAVE A NEW WEAPON-and they intend to use it. The Supreme Court backed the Justice Department's stand in a landmark case. The High Court held that a merger may be illegal if one party is eliminated as a potential competitor in the geographical area affected by the merger. The new ruling upheld the Department's theory of "potential competition."
Initially, Justice applied the theory to prohibit mergers of direct competitors. But more recently, it has been used to stop mergers of companies that don't compete directly but allegedly might well become competitors at some future date.
A BILL TO BAR FOOD STAMPS TO STRIKERS
A bill to bar food stamps to strikers is gathering steam in Congress. Business interests are rallying behind legislation by Sen. Strom Thurmond. It would completely prohibit the issuance of food stamps to all strikers. The entire program comes up for reauthorization by the Congress during 1973.
CONGRESS MAY MAKE SHARP CUTS IN THE DEFENSE BUDGET
Congress may make sharp cuts in the defense budget in coming months. Many new weapons systems will have to stay on the Pentagon drawing boards. Contracts for production of planes, ships and tanks may have to be trimmed. Manned bombers might become one victim of the economizers in the Congress. The fate of the B-1 bomber, billed as a deterrent to Russia, is uncertain.
Congress wants to slice defense spending to save some of the social programs that the President has pared or eliminated.
STRONG LAND-USE LEGISLATION MAY BE ACTED UPON
Strong land-use legislation may be acted upon by Congress this year. The Administration wants to require states to develop land-use programs. It has proposed a bill that would require states to set policies for projects with major environmental impacts-industrial parks, for example. A state failing to adopt an acceptable program in three years may have its Federal highway and airport money cut. States would get U.S. money to assist them.
Sen. Edmund Muskie has introduced an even stronger bill, requiring the establishment of specific criteria against which to assess and approve or disapprove state plans.
ANSI Responds to Safety Act Challenge
"The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is uniquely qualified to respond to the challenge of the Consumer Product Safety Act and welcomes the opportunity to be of service to the consumer, industry and government," says Institute president Roy P. Trowbridge. He also announced that the ANSI board of directors has moved to "analyze the new law thoroughly" and to develop effective means whereby ANSI can best interact with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The Consumer Product Safety Act specifically provides a role for the consensus standards community in developing product safety standards. Since ANSI already has on its books a wide variety of consumer product safety standards and provides the national mechanism by which consensus standards for voluntary use are developed, it is in a strong position to assist in the timely review and adoption of existing consumer product safety standards and to set into motion the projects that will result in safety standards for products not now covered, according to Trowbridge.