Democrats finally get their FTC majority back

[babylonsister]

Democrats finally get their FTC majority back

With the confirmation of Alvaro Bedoya, FTC chair Lina Khan is free to carry out her vision.
By Sara Morrison Updated May 11, 2022, 5:07pm EDT
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It took eight months of hearings, nominations, health-related delays, and a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, but the Senate has confirmed Alvaro Bedoya as the Federal Trade Commission’s fifth commissioner. More importantly — and almost certainly why his confirmation was such a drawn-out and contentious process — he’s its third Democrat, and soon will likely be a deciding vote himself.

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At his hearing, Senate Republicans claimed they took issue not with Bedoya’s privacy stance but with his public tweets. Bedoya has tweeted that President Trump is a white supremacist and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a “domestic surveillance agency.” At the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz accused Bedoya of being a “left-wing activist, a provocateur, a bomb-thrower, and an extremist. Sen. Roger Wicker said he thought Bedoya’s “strident views” meant he wouldn’t be able to work with the Republican commissioners. Bedoya said those tweets were made when he was a private citizen and were in response to government actions that he believed were harmful. On Tuesday, the day before Bedoya’s confirmation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Bedoya a “foolish choice” and an “awful nomination.”

It’s more likely that Republicans’ issues were not with Bedoya or his tweets, but with the fact that Bedoya gives the FTC the Democratic majority it has lacked since Rohit Chopra left in October. Republicans aren’t thrilled with Khan’s work at the FTC, to say the least, seeing her as a divisive radical progressive who is intent on reshaping the agency’s approach to antitrust and giving it more authority than they think it should have. The business world isn’t a fan of Khan, either. The lobbying group US Chamber of Commerce has made no secret of its issues with her, and recently sent a letter to Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell urging them to put off the Bedoya vote because his confirmation would give Khan a majority.

Antitrust reform and privacy advocates, on the other hand, celebrated Bedoya’s confirmation.

“Alongside Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, we can finally envision an effective FTC that plays a vital role in leveling the playing field and restoring our nation’s economy,” Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said in a statement.

more...

https://www.vox.com/recode/23066131/alvaro-bedoya-ftc-confirmation-lina-khan

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. NEWS: Bedoya confirmed to serve at FTC w Vice President Harris on hand in Senate to break tie vote

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Yeah for MVP Harris breaking the tie

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. With tie-breaking votes, Kamala Harris joins a small club

MVP Harris is making history with the number of ties she has broken. We really do not want to run Manchin out of the party

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/tie-breaking-votes-kamala-harris-joins-small-club-rcna28537

Partisan control of the Federal Trade Commission generally isn’t a front-page issue, but many Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the Biden administration take the matter quite seriously. And as Vox reported, that’s what made yesterday’s developments in the Senate so notable.

It took eight months of hearings, nominations, health-related delays, and a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, but the Senate has confirmed Alvaro Bedoya as the Federal Trade Commission’s fifth commissioner. More importantly — and almost certainly why his confirmation was such a drawn-out and contentious process — he’s its third Democrat, and soon will likely be a deciding vote himself

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......Regardless of which tally is correct, Harris is now in the top three for tie-breaking votes in American history.

Holding down the top slot is John Calhoun, who served as vice president from 1825 to 1832, and who broke 31 ties in the Senate over his tenure. In second place is John Adams — the nation’s first vice president — who cast 29 tie-breaking votes in eight years.