Lina M. Khan by Brookings Institution
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has taken aim at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), voicing its concerns over alleged abuses of power by Lina Khan and her activist entourage in a letter released Tuesday. In its ongoing investigation, House Republicans condemned FTC leadership for “undermining due process, and ignoring federal ethics laws” while subverting American business interests at home and abroad. Americans for Tax Reform applauds House Oversight’s efforts to rein in this rogue agency, which poses a major threat to the U.S. economy and antitrust tradition.
To read the full letter, click here.
In the letter, Oversight Chairman James Comer requested interviews with five top FTC officials, arguing that current leadership has abused its authority to “make new rules, initiate investigations, and take enforcement actions against American businesses.” These extrajudicial whims have come to define the Khan era, with FTC officials routinely placing ideological purity above facts and law. House Republicans expressed alarm at the FTC’s willingness to “undermine the decades-old consumer welfare standard,” representing a departure from nearly half a century of antitrust law precedent. Chairman Comer warned against this ideological schism, recommending that FTC leadership “ensure what is best for consumers is achieved, not intervening on behalf of favored competitors.”
Lastly, the letter criticized recent revisions to FTC merger guidelines, which subject American businesses to “unnecessarily burdensome processes” of review for typically routine transactions. This hostility to US economic interests has been extended abroad, with the Oversight Committee expressing displeasure at the FTC’s collusion with “foreign jurisdictions to prevent lawful transactions between American companies.” Through shadowy collaborations with competition officials in Mexico, Canada and the EU, the Khan regime has built an international regulatory presence that has enabled foreign regulators to do the bidding of the FTC.
Under Lina Khan, the FTC has undergone a stark ideological shift that House Republicans fear is undermining “consumers’ and others’ confidence in the Commission’s ability to ensure the integrity of the American marketplace.” Personal ethical failings aside, Lina Khan’s tenure has ushered in an era of FTC hostility to American business interests. Whether it be subverting due process, demolishing antitrust precedent, or spearheading an international regulatory police-state, the current FTC is committed to executing its activist agenda by any means necessary. Americans for Tax Reform applauds House Republicans for holding the FTC accountable.