Gifford Testifies About Child Labor

The allegation that clothes bearing her name were made in sweatshops was “an assault on my very soul,” entertainer Kathie Lee Gifford told a packed congressional hearing Monday.

Gifford, pilloried only weeks ago for lending her name to a line of Wal-Mart clothes made by children, was hailed by lawmakers trying to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of millions of children worldwide.

The focus on the TV talk show host “served to catalyze our national understanding of the scope of the child labor problem,” said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., who is introducing legislation to ban the import of goods produced by child labor.

Gifford has begun organizing a watchdog group to check on labor and human rights abuses in factories that make her clothing lines.