Confidence of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) career staff in senior leadership has declined by 34 percent under the management of Chair Lina M. Khan, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) told an April 18 congressional hearing considering a request for a 37 percent budget increase for the storied regulatory agency that was formed in 1914.
As one of the federal government’s oldest regulatory agencies, the FTC consists of five commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to exercise broad authority to protect U.S. consumers from dishonest business practices. Khan’s tenure has been controversial from the beginning in 2021 when she was appointed by President Joe Biden. Since she took over the agency, two Republican commissioners have resigned in protest of her management practices and policies….