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Lawmakers voted by a voice vote to send to the Senate floor the renomination of Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat, along with the nominations of two Republicans, Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak, the solicitors general of Virginia and Utah, respectively, a congressional aide said.
THE TAKE
If confirmed by the Senate, as expected, adding the two Republicans will not change the balance of power at the five-member FTC, which also enforces antitrust law. It currently has a Democratic chair, Lina Khan, and two Democratic commissioners.
CONTEXT
The agency, which recently sued Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) for allegedly violating antitrust law, is considering mergers such as Kroger (NYSE:KR)’s plan to buy rival grocer Albertsons (NYSE:ACI).
In a hearing in mid-September, the three nominees agreed that the deceptive use of artificial intelligence should be a priority for the FTC in a show of bipartisanship on the popular issue.
The agreement was striking given previous partisan battles at the agency. A previous Republican FTC commissioner, Christine Wilson, quit this year and sharply criticized agency leadership.
