Sean Heather
Senior Vice President, International Regulatory Affairs & Antitrust, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Published
February 16, 2023
The latest:
On Valentine’s Day, Christine Wilson announced she would be resigning from her role as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. Writing in the Wall Street Journal she stated,
“[Lina Khan] has consolidated power within the Office of the Chairman, breaking decades of bipartisan precedent and undermining the commission structure that Congress wrote into law. I have sought to provide transparency and facilitate accountability through speeches and statements, but I face constraints on the information I can disclose—many legitimate, but some manufactured by Ms. Khan and the Democratic majority to avoid embarrassment.”
Ultimately Commissioner Wilson concluded she could not enable the lawlessness emanating from the agency and that her conscience required her to resign.
Why it matters:
Under the leadership of Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission has twisted and stretched the boundaries of antitrust law to, in her words, “shape the distribution of power and opportunity across our economy.” Current Federal Trade Commission leadership has led the agency down a path abandoning any semblance of a willingness to adhere to the limited Congressional authority delegated to it. The Chamber has been actively holding the FTC accountable, and more information about our engagement with the agency is available here.
What we’re doing:
The Chamber has been sounding the alarm on the Federal Trade Commission’s abuses. In January, U.S. Chamber President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on the agency’s illegal power grab banning noncompete agreements in employment contracts.
Now, in light of the issues raised by Commissioner Wilson’s departure, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling for Congressional oversight action. Congress must refrain from granting the Commission any further rulemaking or enforcement authority until it conducts a thorough investigation and oversight and puts forward reasonable guardrails around agency activity.
About the authors
Sean Heather
Sean Heather is Senior Vice President for International Regulatory Affairs and Antitrust.
