The obscure regulator (and political scion) who sparked the furor over gas stoves
Breanne Deppisch
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Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. ignited political frenzy this week when he said in an interview that the agency was weighing a ban on gas stoves due to health hazards, breaking with all other members of the commission and ultimately forcing the CPSC chairman to publish a statement walking back his remarks.
Here’s what to know about Trumka:
His appointment and gas stove comments: Richard Trumka Jr. was tapped by President Joe Biden in July 2021 to be the newest commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the five-member independent government organization tasked with regulating more than 15,000 consumer goods. He was confirmed in a unanimous Senate vote in November 2021 for a term through 2028.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE STUDY BEHIND THE PUSH TO BAN GAS STOVES
Trumka said Monday that the commission would weigh a ban on natural gas stoves, telling Bloomberg that the popular household appliance was a “hidden hazard” and that “any option is on the table” to regulate them.
In fact, Trumka had tried and failed to do just that during a commission meeting in October. According to minutes from that meeting, Trumka did propose that the CPSC should begin rulemaking to regulate gas stoves, but he was forced to withdraw his amendment after failing to earn support from a single commissioner. CPSC did agree, though, to issue a public request for information and data on hazards associated with natural gas stoves, as well as public input for proposed solutions.
But Monday was not the first time Trumka went rogue since the October vote. Last month, he told reporters that a ban on natural gas stoves was a “real possibility.” Given enough public pressure, he said, the agency “could get a regulation on the books before this time next year.”
Uproar and pushback from Republicans forced the White House and the chairman of the commission to deny that a ban was in the works.
CPSC did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment about Trumka’s comments.
Trumka’s background: Prior to his role as commissioner, Trumka spent three years as a Maryland assistant attorney general in the consumer protection division and then was on the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as general counsel of the economic and consumer policy subcommittee.
Hired by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Trumka developed a reputation for his work on issues of product safety, consumer protection, and public health. He led reports on the use of heavy metals in baby foods and on the lack of oversight in the e-cigarette industry, both of which resulted in government reform.
During the pandemic, he worked on subcommittee oversight of corporate dealings, including attempted price-gouging from ventilator providers, the sale of fake COVID-19 tests, and the rise of an entire “cottage industry” of fake cures.
“It’s one of the most interesting things about investigating wrongdoing,” Trumka told Vanguard Law Magazine in a 2021 interview. “Most consumer protection falls into a gray area. Companies look for loopholes and try to take advantage. We expose that and push for changes in law.”
Labor union roots: Trumka bears the name (and the mustache) of his father, the late Richard Trumka Sr., the famed union leader who served as the president of AFL-CIO, America’s largest union, for more than a decade before dying of a heart attack in 2021.
The older Trumka was a close and powerful ally of Democrats in Washington who sought to advance pro-labor laws and regulations as private-sector union membership declined over the course of the 2000s. In 2022, Biden awarded him a White House Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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“He never pushed me into any direction,” the younger Trumka, now a father himself, told Vanguard of his father’s legacy. “But he set an example by fighting for others and being part of a bigger cause. I saw the pride he had in his work and admired his selflessness.”
Trumka Jr. has a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. He earned an undergraduate degree from Cornell University, where he was a linebacker and long snapper for the football team.