Late AFL-CIO President's Son Behind Internet Hysteria On Possible Gas Stove Ban
Late AFL-CIO President's Son Behind Internet Hysteria On Possible Gas Stove Ban
This week, the internet was set on fire (pun intended) with rumors that the Biden Administration may attempt to ban gas stoves.
“A federal agency says a ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by the appliances,” Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Thirty-eight percent of households in the United States use a gas stove, and the number approaches 70% in some states like California and New Jersey, noted CNN later as the controversy unfolded.
Immediately following the Bloomberg report, critics of the Biden Administration seized on the subject with articles, memes and tweets.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, for example, ran an op-ed entitled Biden Is Coming for Your Gas Stove.
“This is a recipe for disaster,” tweeted Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner. I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted a picture of First Lady Jill Biden cooking on a gas range with the caption “Rules for thee but not for me.”
Even late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert mocked the plan, stating: "F--- you! I will see you in hell. You can have my gas range when you pry it from my hot, sizzling hams!"
While the back-and-forth headlines occupied many people through the week, with many right-leaning pundits roasting the report and some high-profile left-leaning pundits defending it, most blamed “the Biden Administration” as a whole.
The man behind the firestorm.
Few realized that the source of the controversy was the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), named Richard Trumka, Jr.
Richard Trumka, Jr. is the son of late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka—who served as president of the AFL-CIO from 2009 until his death in August 2021.
President Biden nominated Richard Trumka Jr. to his CPSC position in July 2021 and he was confirmed by the Senate in November 2021.
Prior to joining the Commission, Trumka Jr. served as General Counsel & Staff Director of the United States House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, Committee on Oversight and Reform, according to his CPSC bio.
Despite Trumka Jr. calling an outright ban on new gas stoves “a real possibility” back in December, it wasn’t until this week’s Bloomberg report that anyone seemed to notice.
Dousing the flames.
Following the firestorm he created earlier in the week, Trumka Jr. tried to douse the flames he had ignited.
“This is a hidden hazard,” Richard Trumka Jr., the agency commissioner, had told Bloomberg. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
However, Trumka Jr. later softened his stance.
“To be clear,” Trumka Jr. tweeted, “CPSC isn't coming for anyone's gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products.”
“We are not looking to go into anyone’s homes and take away items that are already there. We don’t do that,” Trumka, Jr. told CNN.
“If and when we get to regulation on the topic, it’s always forward looking. You know, it applies to new products,” he stated. “Consumers always have the choice of what to keep in their homes and we want to make sure they do that with full information.”
Still on the table?
While it remains a question whether this week’s firestorm has quelled the CSPC’s quest to potentially ban gas stoves, the Daily Wire notes that Trumka Jr.’s prior remarks in December indicated that his “number one goal as a commissioner is to push our agency farther and faster than it has ever moved.”