Answers? Not for All the Lead in China.

"Well, I'm happy to say that," Nord retorted.

While dismissive of the senators, the acting chairman was solicitous of the manufacturers. She "commended" the industry for its safety initiatives. A toy manufacturer reciprocated, calling Nord's agency "exemplary."

If Nord sounded a bit like a corporate fox guarding the consumer henhouse, consider her previous employers: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Corporate Counsel Association and Eastman Kodak.

Among the nuggets served up at yesterday's hearing: The CPSC's staff, once 978, is down to 401; its budget is half of what it was three decades ago, in inflation-adjusted terms; its toy-testing department consists of one man, Bob, who drops toys on the floor in his office; and its toy-testing lab is an overloaded workbench in its outmoded headquarters. "We believe the agency's leadership has failed," Sally Greenberg of Consumers Union told the panel.

These shortcomings usually wouldn't command much notice, but that changed when children's toys became deadly.

Durbin began the hearing by talking about a toy called Magnetix. "I had bought it for my grandson," the senator said. "Luckily, he's old enough not to be in danger."

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) held up a poster of colorful toys. "They have a Laugh and Learn Bunny that has a nose that comes off," he remarked. "Then, of course, you've got Thomas the train. . . . And then you have these Barbie accessories, again, with lead paint."

Klobuchar did Nelson one better: She brought two toy rail cars. "My daughter's 12," the senator said, and "she didn't care about SpongeBob," Klobuchar confessed. "But when she heard that the Barbies were recalled, she came into the kitchen and said, 'Mom, this is really getting serious.' "

"Please tell Abigail we're going to do our best to make Barbie safe," Durbin reassured her.

The toy industry representatives shrewdly supplemented their written testimony with similar tales of children. "I'm here today as the CEO of Mattel, but also as a dad," announced Bob Eckert. "My three daughters grew up playing with Barbies and American Girl. My son loved his Hot Wheels."

But Nord made no such attempt to ingratiate herself.

Eight times, Durbin asked whether the Chinese, in an agreement Nord reached with them, had changed their policy on lead. Each time, she rebuffed him, usually with a variation of "You will have to ask the Chinese."

After two rounds of questioning, Durbin gave up. "I will ask the Chinese," he said, mockingly.

Brownback got a similar response when he asked Nord, five times, if she would like her agency to have the authority to inspect Chinese manufacturing plants. Each time, she answered with a version of a non sequitur: "We don't have that authority."

"Madam Chairman, you're hearing from us a great deal of frustration," Brownback informed the reluctant witness. "Now we're looking at China selling us defective, unsafe products, and we don't know what's going on in the factory. And we're not even sure, from what you're saying, if they have any level of concern on lead."

"Sir, may I respond to that?" Nord asked when Brownback finished.

"I'd be delighted if you would," the dentist answered, wearily.

"I so appreciate hearing your sentiments," said the patient.

Somebody must have turned on the nitrous oxide.