WASHINGTON—This morning, the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Federal Trade Commission’s FY2025 budget request, featuring all FTC commissioners as witnesses. Enough is enough—Congress must hold this agency accountable for Chair Lina Khan’s irresponsible abuses of power and taxpayer money.
“Congress must use the power of the purse to continue its robust oversight efforts of the FTC under Chair Khan to rein in its overreach and restore proper checks and balances,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel. “Khan has repeatedly ignored the limits of her power, disregarded the FTC’s key role to protect consumers, and steamrolled ethical norms and due process. These actions cannot be allowed to continue, and lawmakers can ensure something is done about it by cutting the agency’s wasted taxpayer resources.”
Chair Khan’s extravagant waste of taxpayer dollars is most obviously reflected in her disregard for the true scope of her power. The FTC has brought numerous, costly cases under her leadership and just can’t seem to stop losing.
One of the core policy changes under her leadership, the “non-compete ban,” has now been halted. In its decision, a U.S. District Court judge noted that “the FTC lacks the authority to create substantive rules through this method.”
The court elaborated: “The role of an administrative agency is to do as told by Congress, not to do what the agency thinks it should do.” Khan must start paying attention to the scope of the agency’s congressionally-delegated authority.
Further, Chair Khan’s tenure at the FTC has wiped consumers from being the focus of the agency’s mission vision and strategic goals. Instead, consumers were replaced with a focus on “fair competition.” This desertion of consumers can be seen in Khan’s various policy decisions.
Lawmakers must use their congressionally delegated powers to ensure the FTC works within its delegated bounds and stops frivolously handling American dollars.
Please contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.