“The problem is that, instead of being a consumer watchdog, the FTC is now turned into the President’s lapdog.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, blasted the Trump Administration for illegally firing two Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners and the failure of the Trump-led FTC to protect consumers who are facing skyrocketing costs for basic necessities like groceries and gas.
Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were illegally removed from the FTC on March 18, 2025, and neither was invited to testify at yesterday’s Commerce Committee FTC oversight hearing. Instead, the Committee heard only from Trump-appointed Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Republican Commissioner Mark Meador who confirmed the agency is no longer independent but serves the President’s agenda, not consumers.
“The FTC is our primary agency for continuing to protect consumers, promote competition and to stop unfair and deceptive practices,” said Sen. Cantwell. “And I want to be clear, the problem here is not just that Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya were illegally removed. The problem is that, instead of being a consumer watchdog, the FTC is now turned into the President’s lapdog.”
“In my state, a family of four now pays an average of $1,200 a month for groceries—if they can afford it,” she continued. “But instead of combating grocery retail prices… or protecting consumers from surveillance pricing, the FTC instead voluntarily dismissed a suit against Pepsi for…allegedly colluding with Walmart to raise its wholesale prices for other grocery retailers. Tellingly, this dismissal came shortly after Pepsi made a major contribution to the President of the United States.”
Sen. Cantwell submitted a statement for the record from Commissioner Slaughter, reflecting what she called “an approximation of minority views.”
“Disagreement about policy is not only appropriate; it is healthy,” wrote Commissioner Slaughter. “Congress structured the FTC to provide that balance, and in its absence the agency has been poisoned by politicization, polarization, and, most devastatingly, a lack of structural pressure to deliver the best results possible for the American people. Congress made the FTC independent so that it could stand up to powerful corporations, no matter who is in the White House. I cannot in good faith tell this Committee or the American people that the FTC is carrying out this mandate.”
Sen. Cantwell highlighted one example of an anti-competitive practice from the State of Washington showing how grocery store chains stifle competition by keeping other stores out of neighborhoods. She later pushed both Chair Ferguson and Commissioner Meador to do more to monitor and take actions against restrictive covenants.
“For example, [when] Albertsons in Bellingham closed in 2016 it created a food desert in [the] Birchwood neighborhood,” explained Sen. Cantwell. “Albertsons then included a land restriction when it sold its property to prevent another grocery store from actually moving in. Albertsons ultimately removed their restrictions after the Washington Attorney General opened an investigation about whether they had violated our state antitrust laws. And earlier this year, Washington State became the first state to ban restrictive covenants that ultimately raise food prices by decreasing competition in local markets.”
The Senator followed up on this issue during her questioning of Chairman Ferguson.
Sen. Cantwell: “But let’s turn to this grocery price issue, which I think is really plaguing America. I brought up that instance in my state for both of you and Mr. Meador about covenants [and] the fact that people were using restrictive covenants as a way to, you know, restrict competition. Do you consider restrictive covenants that keep competitor grocery stores or pharmacies from opening as an unfair method of competition?”
Chairman Ferguson: “I actually was not aware of this issue until I became a Commissioner and learned that this is also an issue that has arisen in some of our partner states — as in foreign countries. And so I can’t comment on the existence or specifics of FTC investigations, but this is an issue that I do think warrants careful attention about whether land covenants or other sort of like deed obligations can be used to restrict robust competition in any industry, but particularly a real estate heavy industry like groceries.”
Sen. Cantwell also got agreement from Ferguson and Meador on the importance of restoring the FTC’s “Section 13(b)” authority to get refunds for consumers and small businesses who have been scammed or harmed by unfair practices. A Supreme Court decision in 2021 determined that the FTC lacked authority to recover those funds and Sen. Cantwell will reintroduce her legislation to fully restore it.
Video of Sen. Cantwell opening remarks is HERE and video of her Q&A is HERE. A complete transcript is HERE.