The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) newly confirmed Democratic majority is poised to push forward with an aggressive antitrust agenda after months of delays in the Senate that left Chairwoman Lina Khan with a split board.
Now, with FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya confirmed, the commission can pursue the Democratic majority's priorities.
At Thursday's FTC meeting, the first time the agency had a full five members in seven months, the board voted unanimously on two measures. But rifts are already forming in other areas, as Khan seeks to boost the agency's budget by 30 percent to staff up as it takes on tech giants and handles a record number of mergers.
Staff up: That boost is crucial to hire more full-time employees, Khan told the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday.
With the increase, the agency could hire 215 additional full-time employees, she said.
"We anticipate that the majority of this increase would go towards expanding our enforcement teams and litigators who are on the front lines of fighting unlawful business practices," Khan told the House panel while testifying about the budget request.
GOP disagreement: Republican Commissioners Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson are opposing the proposed increases led by the agency's Democrats.
"The accompanying Congressional Budget Justification provides no roadmap for effectively deploying the dramatic increase in resources it purports to justify, and no assurance that the agency will abandon its present course of deviating from sound legal precedent and the Commission's established jurisdiction. For these reasons, we cannot embrace this budget request," the Republicans said in a statement issued at the end of March.
Read more here.
No comments:
Post a Comment