President Donald Trump has fired three of five commissioners – the Democrats – appointed to the bipartisan, independent U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The three commissioners and consumer advocates say the firings are illegal since Congress established the agency, which oversees safety standards for products, and so it is not under the president’s control. They are vowing to fight for what they say is the safety of Americans consumers.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters May 9 that Trump could fire any staffers within the executive branch.
“He has the right to fire people within the executive branch,” Leavitt said. “It’s a pretty simple answer.”
The removals come as the Trump administration has also fired or tried to fire other commissioners of independent agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Election Commission.
What happened with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission?
Two of the commissioners, Richard Trumka and Mary T. Boyle said they received emails May 8 that their roles as commissioners were terminated, effective immediately. A third commissioner, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, also a Democratic appointee, said on May 9 that he had not received an email, but that Acting CPSC Chairman Peter Feldman “has locked me out of the agency and is preventing me from performing my duties.”
Hoehn-Saric said he and the other commissioners were fired after they refused to let Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representatives enter the CPSC offices in Washington, D.C. The DOGE representatives were at the offices on May 9, Hoehn-Saric said during a press conference that day with Trumka, several politicians and consumer advocates.
Trumka said he and the other commissioners were “fired by the President for keeping Americans safe and fighting for workers’ rights.”
“If this agency is controlled and gutted by DOGE, everyday Americans won’t be able to trust that the products they buy are safe, or worse yet, assume that they are and will only find they’re not when someone’s hurt,” Trumka said.
Efficiency is important, but eliminating the CPSC and its work is reckless, said Janet McGee, who founded Parents Against Tip-Overs after her 22-month old son, Ted, died in 2016 when a dresser tipped onto him.
“This is not OK and Americans should be deeply concerned about what this means for our families and our children,” McGee said.
What is the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission?
The CPSC’s future has been questioned in recent weeks as consumer advocates sounded an alarm when they saw a proposal by the Trump administration to eliminate the agency and put the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in charge of overseeing the safety of more than 15,000 types of consumer products.
That move would take an independent commission created by Congress and put it under a government agency, which the advocates say is not legal and would allow short-term political pressures and influences from corporations to get in the way of safeguards, representatives of the consumer groups said during a media briefing on April 30 and in a previous interview with USA TODAY.
“This dangerously misguided proposal would leave American families at greater risk in their own homes. It would take critical data-driven safety rules that protect babies, children, and adults nationwide, and immediately expose them to political whims,” William Wallace, Consumer Report’s director of safety advocacy, previously told USA TODAY.
The five commissioners are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, but no more than three commissioners can be affiliated with the same party.
“Folks in their daily lives encounter the benefits of CPSC standards all the time,” said Wallace.
The CPSC ensures the safety of products that are made within the U.S. and imported from other countries, from lawn mowers to appliances to baby cribs, said Wallace.
For parents, especially, the CPSC has been instrumental in ensuring that many of the products that children use, such as cribs, strollers and toys, are safe “because of the strong mandatory standards,” Wallace said.
“Everybody should care about this and this is especially serious for parents because the Consumer Product Safety Commission, whether you know it or not, plays an enormous role in keeping kids safe,” he said.
What’s next for the CPSC and fired commissioners?
The fired commissioners said they would be looking into legal action to get their jobs back. House Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), ranking member of the commerce, manufacturing and trade subcommittee, said she and other members of Congress would fight the illegal firing.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) said he wrote Trump a letter demanding the commissioners’ firings be reversed. Joining that letter were: Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy; Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts).
CPSC at risk: Safety of Americans, especially children, at risk with Trump proposal, advocates say
Earlier in the week, Blumenthal, Schakowsky and Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-California) also sent a letter along with 21 other members of the Senate and 27 other members of the House of Representatives calling on Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to reverse plans to eliminate the CPSC.
Members of other so-called independent boards such as the National Labor Relations Board and Federal Trade Commission have filed lawsuits in federal court challenging Trump’s position that he can fire any staffers within the executive branch. Those cases are making their way through the courts.
A 1935 Supreme Court decision blocked then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from firing members of multi-member boards but Trump aides have said they will bring that issue back to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Bart Jansen covers the White House for USA TODAY. Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at blinfisher@USATODAY.com or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher and @blinfisher.bsky.social on Bluesky. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump fires three Democrats on U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
