Republicans take aim at FTC Chair Lina Khan

WASHINGTON (CN) — House Republicans on Thursday formalized their attacks on Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, accusing the government’s top consumer protection regulator in a committee report of carrying water for the White House.

Khan, who as FTC chair has taken aggressive steps to push back on big corporations and pharmaceutical companies, has become a polarizing figure in Congress, especially among GOP lawmakers who have bristled at her progressive leadership of the commission.

With the presidential election just around the corner, Khan’s position at the consumer protection agency is in jeopardy. Republicans, and even some Democrat-aligned figures such as billionaire Mark Cuban, have called for her removal, which would be almost certain if former President Donald Trump is elected in November.

And on Thursday, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee began setting the groundwork for a potential Khan ouster, writing in a staff report that the FTC chair has “undermined” the agency’s mission of policing trade and fair competition through what they described as violations of procedural and historical norms.

“Chair Khan has abused her authority at the agency, trampling on the due process rights of regulated parties, upending the rule of law, and violating ethics standards she is bound to uphold,” House Republicans wrote.

Lawmakers accused Khan of failing to honor the agency’s independence and contended that she was selected by President Joe Biden because she shared the White House’s view for the need for a “whole-of-government” approach to federal competition policy. The administration, the lawmakers said, orchestrated Khan’s 2021 nomination to the commission and her appointment as chair as part of an effort to push their agenda onto a nonpartisan body.

Republicans pointed to 2023 guidelines from the commission expanding its scope for reviewing mergers between companies, characterizing the agency’s actions as a “tax” on mergers and acquisitions and arguing that the regulation had a chilling effect on such activity.

The GOP lawmakers also pointed to what they framed as a “trans-Atlantic drift” in the commission’s anti-competition policy, complaining that under Khan’s leadership the agency has sought to protect European antitrust law, which Republicans see as draconian. Pointing to emails between commission staff and authorities within the European Union, lawmakers argued Khan’s agency demonstrated “very high interest” in Europe’s 2022 Digital Markets Act, a set of sweeping antitrust regulations aimed at increasing competition in the digital sector.

Further, the report said, the U.S. consumer protection agency leaned on European antitrust regulators to torpedo two separate proposed mergers between American companies. The FTC, Republicans argued, coordinated with European officials to block a 2021 merger between gene sequencing company Illumina and blood testing firm GRAIL. In 2022, they said, the agency again called on its European counterparts to quash a merger between Amazon and iRobot, makers of the Roomba automatic vacuum.

Republicans were especially incensed by this episode, arguing in their report that Khan has previously advocated for breaking up Amazon and has accused them of predatory pricing tactics.

“Khan’s history of criticizing Amazon reinforces the suspicion that the FTC’s actions were politically motivated,” the report said.

The Oversight Committee also accused Khan and her commission of shilling for the Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president via a White House task force aimed at cracking down on price gouging practices contributing to inflation. Republicans contended that the program, announced in March, was a “sham” aimed at shoring up popular support ahead of the election.

“Indeed, rather than examine its own role in contributing to inflation, the White House has used a willing FTC to shift blame for historic inflation to the Administration’s favorite scapegoats: American companies,” the report said.

In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, House Oversight chairman Representative James Comer said Khan “bent the knee” to the White House as chair of the government’s consumer protection bureau.

“She willingly became a political tool for the Biden-Harris Administration to carry out its ideological goals,” he wrote.

Democrats, meanwhile, slammed their GOP colleagues’ report.

“Chairman Comer’s report is riddled with misinterpretations, mistruths and cherry-picked experts,” a spokesperson for House Oversight Committee Democrats said.

“As Comer desperately tries to vilify Chair Khan, the Biden-Harris FTC is busy at work taking down greedy monopolies, lowering drug and food prices for Americans and ensuring scammers don’t prey on our most vulnerable neighbors — a pro-consumer agenda celebrated even by Republicans,” the spokesperson said.

Democrats accused Republican lawmakers of misrepresenting testimony given by expert witnesses during their investigation, and leaving out other testimony that they said refutes the GOP’s claims.

Khan’s term as FTC chair expired late last month. While she remains at the agency’s helm, it’s unclear whether Harris intends to renominate her if she is elected president in November. A fight to keep Khan on the panel could become one of the first political battles of a new Harris administration.

While its chair has ruffled feathers with Republicans, the consumer protection agency’s actions under Khan remain popular with everyday Americans. In a May poll Ipsos found that nearly 60% of respondents supported the commission’s move to ban non-compete clauses in employee contracts.

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