Restoring Consumers’ Trust in the FTC
As a new administration and Congress prepare to take office, it is essential to assess how federal agencies steer their mandates and ensure they remain true to their missions. This is especially true for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which, in recent years, has abandoned its reputation as “America’s public interest law firm” committed to protecting the welfare of American consumers. The FTC needs a serious course correction to restore its credibility with the American public.
Consumers are the engine that drives demand, spurs innovation, and keeps businesses accountable. But a recent report from the House Oversight Committee found that FTC Chair Lina Khan ignored consumers in favor of defending the Biden administration and its political priorities. With Khan at the helm, the FTC has abused its authority to prioritize a partisan agenda that hurts consumers, stifles innovation, and undermines economic growth and opportunity.
The agency’s disregard for sound antitrust principles sabotages the real, meaningful competition that consumers and businesses expect from a dynamic economy. Rather than enforce the law, the FTC tried to usurp Congress's job and remake antitrust law as Chair Khan and the White House saw fit. Thankfully, the courts have halted the FTC from blocking mergers with baseless claims.
Further, the FTC failed to fulfill its most basic consumer protection mandate: protecting consumers from the fraudsters that prey upon everyday Americans, including seniors, veterans, and students. Rather than take fraudsters to court, the FTC chose to act as an unelected legislature and write its own rules. Even worse, by cutting corners and ignoring the limits Congress has placed on its rulemaking authority, the FTC diverted litigation staff and resources to rulemaking that will not withstand judicial scrutiny. We will never know how many Americans were scammed by fraudsters the FTC failed to stop because it was too busy fast-tracking burdensome regulations that won’t even remain on the books.
Under the Biden administration, the FTC also circumvented the rule of law by colluding with foreign governments to block deals it opposes, as seen in its coordination with the European Commission to stop the merger of American biotech companies, Illumina and Grail. Not only was this a blatant denial of the merging parties’ due process rights in U.S. courts, but the merger would more importantly have expanded Grail’s ability to make early-stage, multi-cancer testing more accessible and affordable to patients. Going forward, the FTC’s work with foreign enforcers can never again be used to undermine consumers’ access to innovation.
This happened because the FTC abandoned the traditional checks and balances that maintained its bipartisan operation. Under Chair Khan, the FTC centralized power in the Chair's office, ignored the limits of the law, and selectively used public input to justify its fundamentally flawed rulemakings. The FTC needs reform, and the priority must be a clear return to procedural fairness and restoring essential checks on the agency’s authority. Consumers deserve no less.
Sean Heather is the Senior Vice President of International Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
