The Hill: Chamber of Commerce lashes out at FTC

November 19, 2021 Media

The Chamber of Commerce on Friday pledged to fight rule changes put in place by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its new chair Lina Khan.

“The FTC is waging a war against American businesses, so the U.S. Chamber is fighting back to protect free enterprise, American competitiveness, and economic growth,” Suzanne Clark, the group’s president and CEO said in a statement.

The powerful lobbying group pledged to “use every tool at our disposal, including litigation,” to oppose the agency’s agenda.

To kick off that opposition, the chamber filed a series of public records requests seeking information on a series of rule changes the FTC has adopted since Khan was appointed chair.

Nidhi Hegde, director of strategy and programs at the progressive American Economic Liberties Project, pointed to the agency’s adoption of open meetings as a counter to that argument.

“For the first time it’s becoming more democratic where anyone, whether you’re a small business owner or you’re a consumer, you’re a worker, you can have the mic to tell your story,” she said. “Usually the corporations who are very well resourced and have lobbyists … are the only ones that are heard, and that has fundamentally changed and I think is shaking things up.”