Congress Must Protect the Nation’s Household Product Safety Regulator – Urges National Consumers League
Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829
Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League (NCL) submitted a letter for the record in advance of a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on the nominations of Brien Lorenze and Karen Sessions to be Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
“We respectfully urge the Committee to preserve an independent, bipartisan CPSC to ensure that the agency has the resources, personnel, and statutory tools necessary to protect consumers from unreasonable risks of injury and death,” the letter, signed by Daniel Greene, Senior Director of Consumer Protection & Product Safety Policy at NCL, states.
The letter expresses concerns about the Trump administration’s ongoing, unlawful efforts to fire three Democratic CPSC Commissioners. On May 8, 2025, Commissioners Richard Trumka and Mary T. Boyle received an email from the White House purporting to terminate their positions at the CPSC. While Commissioner Alexander Hoehn-Saric did not receive such an email, he is being prevented from executing his duties.
“This unprecedented action against our nation’s longstanding watchdog of household product safety is in direct contravention of the letter and spirit of the law, runs afoul of decades of Supreme Court precedent, and threatens to cripple the CPSC’s ability to protect the American public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with consumer products,” the letter continues.
The letter also decries the CPSC’s withdrawal of rescinded guidance and several proposed rules that protect the American people from hazardous household products. On August 20, 2025, the CPSC withdrew four active rulemaking proceedings that mitigate risks posed by table saws, aerosol duster products, and off-highway vehicles. The agency also withdrew guidance on the value of a statistical life (VSL), which established a higher VSL for children that appropriately accounts for society’s willingness to pay more to protect the life and well-being of our nation’s youth.
“As mandated by Congress, the CPSC has an obligation to establish standards and bans, guided by economically sound VSL, when reasonably necessary to prevent or reduce an unreasonable risk of injury associated with a consumer product,” the letter states. “The record reflects that the withdrawn guidance and proposed rules met that threshold. Withdrawing these proceedings, however, does not appear grounded in evidence or morality.”
A copy of the letter can be found HERE
###
About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
