While the agency can order recalls now, it must go through lengthy investigations, meaning that virtually all recalls are voluntary actions by the carmakers.
The bill would also give the government the authority to order recalls of tainted food.
Other countries also were reportedly halting imports and ordering recalls of New Zealand-made dairy products.
By requiring regular inspections of high-risk facilities, providing the F.D.A. with the power to order recalls and demanding food makers create plans for safe processing, the proposal would change many of the circumstances that led to the illnesses.
Under a new food-safety law enacted just months ago, the F.D.A. was given expanded powers to require food producers and processors to develop safety plans, conduct more frequent inspections domestically and abroad and order recalls of tainted foods.
The melamine scandal has devastated China's dairy industry, leading scores of companies to order recalls and raising yet another raft of questions about the safety of Chinese products.
The F.D.A., for example, would for the first time get power to order recalls of tainted foods; it would no longer be reliant on persuasion to coax voluntary withdrawals.
The company was ordered to recall half a million cars in the US.
