Senate Spars With FTC BCP Director Sam Levine Over FTC Enforcement, Surprisingly From Both Sides

Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security held its second hearing in less than a year on COVID-19 fraud, price gouging, and related enforcement efforts. Groundhog Day Eve was a fitting date for the hearing, as the Federal Trade Commission - this time through Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine - again called on Congress to pass legislation to clarify the agency's Section 13(b) authority in the wake of the Supreme Court's AMG decision.

This time, however, it was a Republican Senator who initially zeroed in on the agency's request. But rather than calling for sweeping restoration of the authorities the agency thought it had pre-AMG, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) pressed Director Levine on the importance of statutory guardrails should Congress move forward with conferring the FTC new authority to obtain equitable monetary redress. Senator Lee emphasized the need for due process to