Strong praise for Obama's revamping of U.S. consumer board

May 5, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Barack Obama today revamped the chief body charged with protecting American consumers, the move coming less than a month after Sen. Bill Nelson called for new leadership at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The White House announced this morning it was nominating a former state education commissioner from South Carolina to replace the controversial chair of the CPSC, Nancy Nord, and also was increasing the size of the panel from three to five members and significantly boosting its budget. 

The move was met by Nelson with strong praise.  “For too long consumers have been ignored by a board that’s been too cozy with industry,” said Nelson, who last month wrote Obama a letter calling for Nord to removed.

The Florida Democrat has been at odds with the CPSC for much of his eight years in the Senate, over arsenic in playground equipment, hazardous imported toys and most recently the CPSC being slow to react to growing concerns over Chinese-made drywall.

In February Nelson was the first federal official to ask the CPSC under Nord for an investigation of problems in homes constructed with the imported drywall and for an interim ban on the product.  He and Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu then filed legislation aimed at initiating a recall in addition to a ban on tainted building products from China, as more and more people around the country were reporting problems in their homes built with imported drywall. 

The potential scope of the problem is huge.  Nelson represents Florida, where an estimated 36,000 homes are believed to contain Chinese-made drywall.  Landrieu represents Louisiana, where tons of the drywall was used in post-Hurricane Katrina construction.  All told, it’s believed between 60,000 and 100,000 homes nationwide may contain tainted drywall.  Besides Florida and Louisiana, problems also have been seen and reported in the press in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and California.

The CPSC tests a wide range of products – from high chairs to microwave ovens to toys.  All told, the CPSC oversees about 15,000 products.

According to the Los Angeles Times today, Obama said protecting consumers will be "a top priority" of his administration -  signaled by naming a new chairman for the CPSC, expanding the size of the commission and boosting its budget.  The president nominated Inez Moore Tenenbaum, the former South Carolina superintendent of education, to serve as chairman of the commission.  And he named Robert Adler, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, to fill one of two new seats being added to the three-member commission.

Nelson said it appeared the president made some “good picks” and that he was looking forward to meeting with each in the near future and to their confirmation hearings.  

The $107-million budget increase that the president is seeking for the commission represents a 71 percent boost in the agency's funding since 2007, according to the White House.

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