Members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce formally submitted a letter to chair Henry Waxman today requesting that the committee hold a hearing to discuss issues surrounding all the folks the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (as currently written) will put out of business. (Hat tip to Liz at Cool Mom Picks for putting it on our radar!) Read the letter below, or download it yourself in PDF form, but here's the real meat of it:

The emails, letters, and phone calls we have received from constituents about the unintended consequences of certain provisions and deadlines in CPSC's implementation plan now number in the thousands. Many involved in CPSIA's creation were passionate to improve the safty of our children's products, but surely no one expected or wanted to drive thousands of home-based and small businesses out of operation and turn thousands of Americans into surprise victims of a brutal recession. For example, it seems obvious to us tha t the hand-knitted sweaters and homemade hair bows sold by artisans on eBay are highly unlikely to endanger children's health.

The situation is urgent. On February 10, in less than three weeks, these tiny toy producers will be out of business. Their products, regardless of innocence and safety, will have to be removed from store shelves and the websites of their home businesses.

You have urged the Commission to deal with the problem by issuing new guidance. Regrettably, the kind of modifications to existing requrements needed to prevent a broad collapse of home-based businesses may take months to achieve. We are advised that even if the CPSC devotes full staff attention and moves at the most expeditious speed, it will be unable [to] issue the necessary guidance prior to February 10 without violating Federal rulemaking requirements.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that these micro-producers are doing anything wrong or endangering anyone, and we believe there is no reasonfor them to suffer a dvasating economic blow simply because their government cannot find a way to help in time.

Here's hoping that Waxman takes their call for action seriously. Honestly, the alternative is so draconian, we're quite hopeful he will. And it gets better - also today, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, sent out notice to federal agencies that all pending Bush regulations will be placed on hold pending executive review. It's unclear to us exactly what this means, the term "pending" specifically, but it's another sign that there may be some movement on this issue, and quickly.