Ted Cruz called Alvaro Bedoya, whom Biden has nominated to take over Chopra's spot at the FTC, "a provocateur, a bomb-thrower and an extremist." GOP Commissioner Christine Wilson has criticized Khan repeatedly in speeches, and on Wednesday, Sen. The chamber's threats come as Republicans grow increasingly personal in their attacks on the Biden tech agenda, even though some Trump-allied conservatives expressed interest in Khan's potential to take on Big Tech when she was first nominated. The chamber in particular called out the controversial use of so-called " zombie votes." Khan, who has faced weeks with a 2–2 partisan split on the commission since the departure of Rohit Chopra to take over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has used votes that Chopra pre-cast on certain matters before he left.
Khan, a tech critic and advocate of aggressive antitrust enforcement, has been making procedural changes enabling her and her fellow Democrats to speed their agenda, which also includes resurrecting practices like rulemaking that businesses and Republicans have long fought.
Chamber is fighting back to protect free enterprise, American competitiveness, and economic growth," Suzanne Clark, the group's CEO, said in a statement announcing "formal objections" to a series of moves by the agency as well as dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests.Ĭlark said the chamber, a longtime foe of the FTC, is showing it will "use every tool at our disposal, including litigation," to confront what it called the commission's "abuse of power." "The FTC is waging a war against American businesses, so the U.S. In paperwork filed with the government ahead of his confirmation, Kanter agreed to consult with department ethics officials on recusal matters and follow all rules. Though Yelp and Microsoft have both had disputes over producing documents in the U.S.'s Google case, his one-time clients also may be not "parties" to the lawsuit, which is generally the scope of ethics regulations. Allies of Kanter's have argued that he is not "switching sides" in the Google matter, having opposed the company in his private practice and now doing so in public service. Given the Justice Department's purview, Kanter has faced questions about his former clients as well as those of his old law firm, which include Apple. (The FTC and Justice Department share responsibility for antitrust enforcement.) Amazon is under FTC investigation, and the commission is suing Facebook. The letter echoes the so-far unsuccessful efforts by Amazon and Facebook to secure the recusal of Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission chair who has been critical of both companies' competitive conduct.