Ranking Member Hoyer Remarks at Federal Trade Commission Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON — Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee's oversight hearing on the Federal Trade Commission:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

One of my top priorities, Mr. Chairman as you know, throughout my time in Congress has been making our workers, our businesses, and our entire economy more competitive.

That is why I, as Majority Leader, started the agenda that I call Make It In America. Which obviously is a double entendre. People came to America to make it, to succeed. But also, the way we’re going to succeed better, is to make it—whatever it may be—in America. We’re moving towards that effort. But as you point out in your statement, it can be a self-defeating effort. The larger one enterprise gets other enterprises are left by the wayside. Many of the historic bills we passed in the 117th Congress – including the Chips and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act – were designed to promote competition and to grow manufacturing and our science research in America. That’s the objective we all ought to share.

If you support innovation, if you support growth, if you support development, then you have to support competition. I tell my Democrats, if you want to be pro-worker, you need to be pro-employer. Both need to be in equilibrium. Both have a role to play. And both need a referee. 

You talked about cop on the beat. Referee. 

If you recognize the importance of the free market, as I do, then you have to recognize how crucial it is to keep it free and keep it a market.

The FTC is essential to that mission to promote fair competition and protect American consumers. It breaks up monopolies that inflate the price of everything from groceries to gas to health care.  It protects Americans from scam calls, fraud, and unfair business practices. It stands up for Americans’ privacy rights, going after businesses that misuse or fail to secure their personal data. 

One thing I may just, it ticks me when I get advertisements that I don’t ask for on this device which I own. I don’t know whether there is a solution to that, because obviously they have to ‘pay for the product they give me.’ That is a particular concern that I have that you may pay attention to.  

The FTC needs to maintain public trust and credibility to do this vital, nonpartisan work. Now I mention nonpartisan work, I noticed at least three times in the opening synopsis of your statement that you use the term ‘Trump-Vance FTC.’ I was caught by that, because I don’t see that very often in statements that are made. Actually, it’s America’s FTC. Now, you’re appointed, you’re a Republican, I’m a Democrat, so we have different points of view. But we need to make sure the agenda of the administration really needs to be in this case from your perspective, the agenda of what the FTC is intended to do. Now we may have differences on that, but I would urge you to do it in as non-partisan a way. And, frankly, I urged your predecessor to do the same thing. There would be different views as to whether that was accomplished. The FTC needs to maintain public trust and credibility as I said, and that will help I think. That’s why the agency has always been independent.

I am deeply concerned by this administration’s efforts frankly to undermine that independence—that naming it the Trump-Vance FTC would imply—but it also seems to be creeping into almost everything we do. Where so-called ‘non-loyalists’ are being fired. They need to be loyal to the country and the oath that we all take to the Constitution and the laws thereof. Not to any individual or group of individuals. 

In March, Donald Trump violated 90 years of supreme court precedent when he fired two Democratic FTC commissioners without any legal cause, which under the law is required. 

Those two commissioners are challenging that action in court, I hope they win. And if it’s anything like the dozens of other cases we’ve seen in the past four months, I believe the courts will likely rule against the administration.

Nevertheless, Trump’s attempt to politicize the FTC ought to concern us all. So should the reports that Elon Musk and his doge agents may be able to access sensitive financial data the FTC compiles on American businesses, including musk’s competitors. That is the opposite of the FTC’s purpose; we must not let it happen. 

Democrats and Republicans need to come together to protect this vital institution and ensure it has the resources it needs to keep serving the American people. 

I thank FTC Chair Ferguson for joining us today, and I hope that he can address some of these concerns and speak to the importance of this funding.

The American people are counting on the FTC, and the FTC is counting on this committee.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

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