Biden to Name Khan FTC Chair
President Joe Biden plans to name Lina Khan to permanently lead the FTC once she's sworn in as a commissioner. Hours earlier, the Senate voted 69-28 Tuesday to confirm her. Khan drew bipartisan Senate support, as expected (see 2106100069). FTC supporters, pressed Congress to increase FY 2022 funding and enact legislation to restore its FTC Act Section 13(b) consumer redress authority.
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Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., first announced Biden's plan to name Khan chair during a subcommittee hearing on the smart home tech market. Khan would replace acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who has led the commission since shortly after Biden took office in January (see 2101210067). Khan and Slaughter's office didn't comment. See our news bulletins here and here.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted the upcoming appointment “is tremendous news” and said Khan “brings deep knowledge and expertise to this role and will be a fearless champion for consumers.” Major “tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon deserve the growing scrutiny they are facing, and consolidation is choking off competition across American industries,” Warren said. With Khan “at the helm, we have a huge opportunity to make big, structural change by reviving antitrust enforcement and fighting monopolies.”
Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal praised the pick. “We need strong champions like Lina throughout the government -- most notably at the FTC, FCC and DOJ -- and hope this is a sign that the administration will move to fill these other key roles in a timely manner,” he said.
Khan would complete a temporary 3-2 Democratic majority at the commission with Slaughter and Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who is Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Biden hasn’t yet announced a nominee to replace Chopra. An FTC spokesperson confirmed Chopra will remain on the commission until the Senate confirms him to the CFPB post. Chopra didn't comment.
All 48 Senate Democratic caucus members who voted backed Khan; Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters of Michigan and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey didn’t vote. Twenty-one Republicans voted for Khan, including Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota. All 28 no votes came from Republicans; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., didn’t vote. The Senate on Monday voted 72-25 to invoke cloture on Khan's confirmation debate, paving the way for the vote.
“I’m so grateful to the Senate for my confirmation,” Khan tweeted. “Congress created the FTC to safeguard fair competition and protect consumers, workers, and honest businesses from unfair & deceptive practices. I look forward to upholding this mission with vigor.” Slaughter tweeted she’s “very excited to welcome her to the” commission “and get to work.” Republican Commissioner Noah Phillips tweeted he looks forward to “working with” the incoming Democratic majority to “protect competition and consumers”; GOP Commissioner Christine Wilson retweeted him.
“We need all hands on deck as we take on some of the biggest monopolies in the world,” Klobuchar said in a statement. Khan’s “deep understanding of competition policy will be vital as we strengthen antitrust enforcement, and I look forward to working with her at the FTC as we advance efforts to protect consumers.” The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, MPA, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Citizen, Public Knowledge and USTelecom praised the confirmation.
Common Sense, OTI and 13 other groups urged House and Senate appropriators Monday to increase FTC funding in FY 2022 to $525 million. “This would represent a significant increase for this agency,” but “the well-known truth is that the FTC has been underfunded and overmatched,” the groups said in a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other leaders. The Biden administration in May proposed $390 million for the FTC in FY 2022 (see 2105280055). The commission got $351 million for FY 2021.
Privacy for America urged House and Senate Commerce leaders to swiftly restore the FTC’s 13(b) authority. “Strong enforcement is essential to ensure compliance with the law, deter harmful behavior, and provide meaningful protections to consumers,” the group wrote the committees’ leaders. House Commerce last week advanced the 13(b)-centric Consumer Protection and Relief Act (HR-2668) on a 30-22 party-line vote.