Senators Divided Over Khan Legacy as FTC Chair’s Tenure Ends
FTC Chair Lina Khan redefined the agency during her nearly four-year tenure, Democrats and Republicans said in interviews last week. However, they split along party lines on whether her impact was positive for antitrust and consumer protection enforcement.
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Twenty-one Republicans joined Democrats voting to confirm Khan in June 2021. Moreover, Vice President-elect JD Vance spoke positively in February about her leadership (see 2402270050). But Republican senators now say they’re disappointed in her tenure and that she leaves a legacy of politicization.
The agency has “gone far left” under Khan's leadership, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told us. “I voted for her. I wouldn’t do that again.”
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said he wanted to work across the aisle after he supported her confirmation, but bipartisan collaboration “never occurred” during her tenure. “We never developed that capability."
Democrats say opponents felt threatened because of Khan's commitment to enforcing the law, which her predecessors failed to do. She “vigorously” enforced the law, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said. “Some people will call that aggressive. They can call it whatever they want. Law enforcement may rub some people the wrong way, but it’s good for consumers and the American public.”
Khan “demonstrated how important and popular it is to enforce the laws as written,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. The U.S. has endured more than four decades of weak enforcement in favor of big business interests, she added. “Nobody’s putting that genie back in the bottle.”
Warren declined to discuss “private conversations” she’s had about Khan’s plans. Khan joined the agency after making a name for herself through academic work at Columbia Law School and serving as an antitrust staffer on the House Judiciary Committee.
Ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us he hopes Khan remains in office to continue opposing mass consolidation across business sectors, and that her policy vision hasn’t been “fully realized.” Khan has “pioneered opposing the agglomeration of industry,” he added.
The FTC declined comment on Khan’s future. Antitrust experts expect the sitting Republican commissioners, Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson, to get first consideration as the next chair under the Trump administration. Vance adviser Gail Slater, who advised the first Trump White House on tech and telecom policy, is seen as a potential candidate for a commission seat (see 2410160030). Former officials have told us Mark Meador, a former antitrust staffer for Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., is a potential candidate for the FTC or DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Alex Okuliar, a former DOJ deputy assistant attorney general and FTC adviser, is another potential candidate, officials have said.
Former Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson told an event audience at George Washington University last week the FTC has “traveled through a really interesting experiment for the past four years,” one that shouldn’t be “sustained or repeated.” Wilson resigned from the commission in 2023 after five years in office (see 2303020048). Khan and her fellow progressives have wrongly focused on punishing successful business, favoring nascent competitors and ignoring the consumer welfare standard, said Wilson. The former commissioner said she looks forward to continuing to engage with the Trump administration and Congress “to share my perspective on how we chart the right course” in 2025.
Khan “won’t have an enduring legacy,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., predicted for us. The FTC “misspent” its resources on failed litigation and increased scrutiny of innocuous transactions, he said: “She chose to take her substantial resources and say there weren’t enough because she was misspending them.”
“She’s been in way over her head,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who voted against Khan’s confirmation. “She doesn’t understand antitrust policy. I don’t know if she knows a law book from a J. Crew catalog.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., told us he hasn’t agreed with everything Khan did, particularly her scrutiny of “smaller deals.” But, he said, she has restored the notion that there’s a “cop on the beat.”