House Energy and Commerce seeks input on FTC overhaul

Republican leaders are looking to reshape the Federal Trade Commission after a series of Supreme Court decisions hobbled its powers and ended its independence from the White House, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent out a request for information Wednesday seeking input on overhauling the 111-year-old antitrust and consumer protection agency, whose regulatory and enforcement agenda during the Biden era drew attacks from Republicans and business groups.

The letter, sent under the letterhead of committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), notes that recent Supreme Court decisions have raised questions about the FTC's structure, including a landmark ruling in June that dramatically expanded the president's control of the commission. The letter also points to court losses that have challenged the FTC's rulemaking authority.

"As the primary House committee of jurisdiction, the Energy & Commerce Committee is seeking expert views on what reforms, if any, are needed to ensure the Commission's authorities and structures are fit for purpose in today's changed landscape," the RFI said.

The questions range from the FTC's structure having five bipartisan commissioners to its investigative and enforcement processes, as well as its budget, operations and staffing capabilities.

The RFI specifically asked for input on the FTC's rulemaking authority, and singled out the agency's efforts on data privacy protections during the Biden administration under the "commercial surveillance" rulemaking in 2022.

The letter's deadline for responses is on Sept. 28. Guthrie and the FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Douglas Farrar, who was the FTC's director of public affairs under the Biden administration, criticized the RFI for its "closed-door process."

"This is likely an effort by corporate lobbyists to tear down the one agency standing between American families and data-driven price gouging," Farrar, the founder of the communications firm Maywood Strategies, said in a statement to POLITICO.

FTC's changes: The Supreme Court's Trump v. Slaughter decision in June gave President Donald Trump expanded authority to control nearly all executive branch agencies, after he fired all of the FTC's Democratic commissioners in March 2025.

The decision overturned decades of executive independence at the consumer protection agency, which holds oversight on data privacy and antitrust violations. The FTC's enforcement capabilities have also waned in recent years, after the Supreme Court's 2021 decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC ruled that the agency couldn't force companies that engage in wrongdoing to pay back consumers.

But that still leaves conservatives and pro-industry groups with plenty of targets for seeking to rein in the commission's powers. Companies such as Meta have filed legal challenges against the FTC's use of an in-house tribunal — rather than federal courts — to take some actions against businesses, while lawmakers including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have called for eliminating the commission's authority to review corporate mergers.

The FTC also faced attacks for what critics called excessive rulemaking during the Biden administration, when Chair Lina Khan pushed for the agency to resume promulgating new regulations at a pace not seen for decades. Its "click-to-cancel" rules and noncompete bans were both overturned in federal court, while critics saw the agency's rulemaking on data privacy in 2022 as beyond the FTC's authority.

"It was in some ways the FTC saying, 'We don't think Congress is going to do anything, so we're going to step in.' That is an example of a very aggressive position for the FTC to take," Neil Chilson, head of AI policy at the Abundance Institute and a former FTC chief technologist, told POLITICO.