Friday, Jun. 19, 2009

Tenenbaum confirmed to head federal consumer agency

WASHINGTON | South Carolina's Inez Tenenbaum will be the next head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission after she was confirmed this afternoon by the U.S. Senate on a unanimous voice vote.

She could be sworn in as early as next week.

Tenenbaum, who served as S.C. Education Superintendent from 1998 to 2006, was tapped by President Obama last month to run the agency that oversees the safety regulation of more than 15,000 consumer products, from toys to appliances to drywall.

Tenenbaum, a Democrat, co-chaired President Barack Obama's White House campaign in South Carolina. She was the first state leader to endorse him in his winning primary campaign against Sen. Hillary Clinton, now secretary of state.

Obama nominated Tenenbaum, 58, to reinvigorate the demoralized federal agency. Both of South Carolina's Republican U.S. senators, Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, backed Tenenbaum's candidacy.

President George W. Bush slashed the budget and cut the staff of the consumer safety agency, which ended his tenure with only two of its five commissioners in place.

Obama has pledged to increase the 450-employee agency's budget by more than $100 million.

Tenenbaum appeared before a U.S. Senate panel earlier this week and said her experience running S.C. schools would help her turn around the CPSC.

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