House Democrats Push for Additional FTC Privacy Resources; Simons on Hill
Wednesday’s FTC oversight hearing before the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee is a good opportunity to gauge what additional privacy resources the agency needs, Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said in interviews. The pair recently asked the agency what it would do with an additional $50 million-$100 million in annual funding (see 1905010183). FTC Chairman Joe Simons took to Capitol Hill Thursday to discuss budgetary needs, said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and a lobbyist.
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Having an estimated 40 FTC employees devoted to privacy issues for the entire U.S. economy is “ridiculous,” Schakowsky said. “Clearly, there’s going to have to be some more personnel, more resources, and that’s going to be important.” Agencies don’t often comment on specific resources, but “we’ll certainly ask,” Pallone said. The hearing will help the committee continue to develop privacy legislation, he said.
Schakowsky said she participated in a private Brookings Institution roundtable Wednesday, which included European enforcement officials and various academics. She noted the FTC’s European counterparts have hundreds of employees devoted to the issue. If funding is “holding them back from addressing privacy ... then I’m for giving them more funding,” said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.
Simons met with Kennedy Thursday, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee told us. Kennedy said he would discuss whether the agency needs more money, but noted: “I’ve never met a government agency -- state, federal or local -- that said I have enough money, and I don’t need anymore. They always need more money. The question is do they deserve more money.” Kennedy said he understands the FTC has only about 40 people working on privacy issues, and funding is something “I’m going to look at it.”
Simons met with FSGG members ahead of the subcommittee hearing next week, a lobbyist said. It will be a joint session between the FCC (see 1905010189) and the FTC, an FCC spokesperson said. Kennedy had a “productive” meeting with Simons and looks forward to further privacy discussion and other FTC priorities during the hearing, an aide said. The FTC didn’t comment.
Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., expressed disappointment the FTC provided sparse details to her and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., about big tech investigations. The pair recently asked the five commissioners to publicly state whether the agency’s investigating Google, citing privacy and competition concerns, and to disclose any other major tech probes of public interest (see 1904090024). The FTC’s response to the April 8 letter “was short on specifics relating to any current enforcement efforts,” Klobuchar said in a statement, though she welcomed other details about agency efforts. Consumers need to have confidence in the agency protecting competition and online data and “that means providing Congress with more information about their actions,” she said.
Offices for Klobuchar and Blackburn didn’t release the actual FTC response. A Blackburn aide said Simons’ letter mentioned the agency’s newly formed tech task force (see 1902280077) and ongoing agency hearings on “potentially anticompetitive behavior that tech platforms may be perpetuating.” Simons also expressed support for data privacy legislation that would expand FTC authority, the aide said.