As we previously reported, the CPSC has been undergoing significant changes amid a broader agency shakeup. On August 7, 2026, the Senate confirmed Karen Sessions of Texas and Brien Lorenze of Virginia as Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), voting 51 to 47. Their confirmation restores a quorum to the independent federal agency for the first time since 2025.
The CPSC is a five-member commission whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to staggered seven-year terms; at least three members are required for a quorum. President Trump had previously removed three Democratic Commissioners, leaving a temporary two-member quorum that kept the agency running. That quorum lapsed when Douglas Dziak resigned on August 22, 2025, leaving Acting Chairman Peter Feldman as the CPSC’s only sitting member until Sessions and Lorenze were confirmed.
Meet the New Commissioners
President Trump nominated Brien Lorenze on June 1, 2026, to fill the seat vacated by former Commissioner Douglas Dziak; his term runs from October 27, 2024, to October 2031. Lorenze has served as CPSC’s Executive Director since March 2025, overseeing agency operations and financial management. He previously served as a Senior Advisor in the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and as Chief Data Officer for the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, where he championed the use of artificial intelligence to help federal employees manage large datasets and streamline pandemic relief spending decisions. His private-sector experience includes roles as Principal at Deloitte, Managing Director at BearingPoint, and Principal at IBM Global Services.
At his June 24, 2026, confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Lorenze credited gains made under Feldman’s leadership, noting that since he joined CPSC, “the average number of monthly recalls is up 73%” and “the average number of monthly takedowns is up 208%.” He identified three priorities if confirmed: addressing “hidden and complex product hazards that consumers cannot reasonably identify or avoid on their own,” strengthening the agency’s “use of data, analytics, and technology to identify hazards earlier,” and ensuring CPSC “keeps pace with innovation and emerging product risks” from new technologies and connected devices.
President Trump nominated Karen Sessions on February 11, 2026, to fill the seat vacated by former Commissioner Mary T. Boyle; her seven-year term began on October 27, 2025. Sessions has no prior experience at CPSC, but she previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation during the first Trump Administration and as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Homeland Security from December 2020 to January 2021. She also served as City Commissioner and Vice Mayor of Winter Park, Florida, from 2007 to 2010. Sessions brings more than thirty years of private-sector experience in technology, infrastructure, and regulatory policy.
At the same hearing, Sessions pointed to her private- and public-sector background, telling the Committee that her experience “involving organizational oversight, technology, regulatory matters, and public accountability” had prepared her to address “increasingly complex global supply chains, the growth of e-commerce marketplaces, and the expanding range of emerging and new products entering American homes at an accelerating pace.” She pledged to approach the role “with integrity, sound judgment, and respect for the authorities Congress has entrusted to the Commission.”
About the CPSC
CPSC is an independent federal agency charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from consumer products. Congress created the agency in 1972 under the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 2051-2089) to develop and enforce product safety standards.
Acting Chairman Peter Feldman welcomed the new Commissioners, calling their arrival “an important and exciting moment for CPSC” as the agency “enters a new era of constitutional accountability under President Trump’s leadership.” Having worked closely with Lorenze during his time as Executive Director, Feldman said he knows “firsthand the operational judgment, policy expertise, and results-driven approach he brings to the Commission,” and praised Sessions’ “impressive record of leadership across the public and private sectors.”
Consumer Group Opposition
The nominations were not without controversy. Ahead of the Senate Commerce Committee’s vote, the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumers League, and 29 other consumer and safety advocacy organizations sent a letter to Senate leadership urging members to oppose confirmation, warning that “product safety hazards have no partisan leanings, and neither should the Commission tasked with addressing them.” The letter argued that seating two more nominees aligned with the administration would leave the Commission without “balanced representation,” and flagged potential conflicts of interest arising from the President’s family and political allies holding financial stakes in companies that manufacture or sell consumer products. Despite the opposition, the Senate proceeded to confirm both nominees.
For questions about CPSC or product safety matters, please reach out to the authors of this post or the key contacts of Husch Blackwell’s Product Safety team.