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ARTICLE · 18 MAY 2022

US Senate Confirms 5th FTC Commissioner – Now What?

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On May 11, 2022, the Senate confirmed President Biden's appointment of Alvaro Bedoya to fill the vacant Democratic seat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law

The upshot, for busy people:

  • On May 11, 2022, the Senate confirmed President Biden's appointment of Alvaro Bedoya to fill the vacant Democratic seat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
  • Commissioner Bedoya's confirmation gives the Democratic commissioners a voting majority on the Commission, and we expect the FTC will pursue actions previewed by Chair Lina Khan.
  • These include long-awaited privacy and other rulemakings, more anti-discrimination enforcement, a harder look at platforms and other "dominant intermediaries," additional studies and even more merger scrutiny, including possibly greater use of prior approval provisions in merger consent decrees.

Breaking the deadlock. When Chair Khan first was installed in June 2021, she had a 3-Democrat voting majority in the 5-member FTC, which included then-Commissioner Rohit Chopra before he left to lead the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As a result, the Commission approved a number of

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