For the second time in one day on Tuesday, a high-ranking Trump administration official has announced plans to step down.
Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) chairwoman Ann Marie Buerkle surprised agency staffers with an email saying she has withdrawn from consideration for a full seven-year term and will leave the the administration in late October. That email was obtained by the Washington Post.
Word of Buerkle’s decision came just hours after President Trump announced on Twitter that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is withdrawing from the confirmation process in order to “devote more time to his family.”
During Buerkle’s time at the CPSC, the agency was criticized for its handling of two products linked to serious safety issues: Fisher-Price’s Rock ’n Play infant sleeper, blamed in the deaths of 32 babies, and Britax’s BOB jogging strollers, which left nearly 100 people — including small children — injured when their front wheels came off.
Buerkle voted for a settlement with Britax, joining other Republicans on the panel and ending a CSPC lawsuit aimed at forcing a recall of the stroller.
“An investigation by The Post found that Buerkle kept Democratic commissioners in the dark about the stroller investigation and then helped end the case in court,” the Post noted on Tuesday.
“In Buerkle’s first two years as chairwoman, the number of companies fined for misconduct declined to five in 2017-2018 from 12 in 2015-2016,” the Post says. “Public voluntary recalls fell about 13 percent during the same period, resulting in approximately 80 fewer recalls, according to agency data.”
