US Chamber Opposes FTC Language in Senate Spending Bill

The Build Back Better Act would grant the FTC “unprecedented and unjustified” broad civil penalty authority under FTC Act Section 5, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and some 85 organizations wrote the Senate Wednesday. The letter references HR-5376's sections 31501 and 31502, which would fund a new FTC data privacy and security bureau (see 2111190042). The new civil penalty authority would “constitute a major policy shift in FTC enforcement authority that erodes due process and will impose significant new costs on companies that are acting in good faith when serving consumers,” they wrote. Retail, advertising and business groups signed the letter. The Chamber has been critical of policy changes under FTC Chair Lina Khan (see 2112030042). The agency didn’t comment. Groups signing the letter are funded by some of the largest monopolies, including Amazon, Google and Facebook, said Sarah Miller, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, in a statement: “Big Tech and giant corporations got used to being above the law and now they want to keep it that way. Democrats in the Senate must join Chair Lina Khan in standing up to these blatant efforts to undermine law enforcement.”