Senate Commerce Advances FTC Nominees to the Floor

Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., listed the credentials of all three and said Slaughter has proven herself a strong consumer advocate. Ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said all three are “well-qualified.” Bipartisanship has been a “defining characteristic” at the FTC, but Chair Lina Khan “abandoned that legacy in favor of a partisan, legally suspect agenda that has devastated employee morale in the process,” said Cruz. Holyoak and Ferguson will hopefully be a check on the majority’s agenda, said Cruz. He noted the committee hasn’t held an FTC oversight hearing during Khan’s tenure, which is “unacceptable.” The FTC continues to take an “unreasonably expansive view of its authorities under Chair Khan’s leadership that this committee has an obligation to ask her about,” he said. Khan in a statement Thursday congratulated all three nominees for the unanimous decision. “The FTC operates best at full strength, and I look forward to their swift approval by the full Senate,” she said. Cruz said he’s “hopeful” the FTC will host an oversight hearing soon, noting he had extensive conversations with Cantwell about it: As President Ronald “Reagan famously said, trust but verify.” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said it’s a concerted goal to get the nominees confirmed swiftly: “It depends on the schedule and what happens on the floor.”