A Partisan FTC is Bad for Small Businesses

“We’re deeply worried about the future of anti-monopoly and fair competition enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission following President Trump’s decision to fire Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya have been champions for small businesses, supporting a ban on non-compete agreements, working to rein in big tech companies that harm small firms and advocating for Robinson-Patman Act enforcement to stop price discrimination. Their removal is a loss for small businesses and it’s deeply worrying that President Trump is working to turn an agency that is supposed to be non-partisan into simply another arm of his administration. Small businesses want the federal government to create a level playing field but a politicized FTC will not deliver consistent, lasting protections that entrepreneurs need from monopolistic corporate actions. Instead, the FTC will be at the whims of whomever is in the White House at the time, with policy reforms ping ponging back-and-forth. We hope that Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya are able to quickly regain their positions and that the FTC will continue its bipartisan tradition of supporting small businesses against powerful corporate behemoths. This is the latest example of President Trump using a sledgehammer to thoughtlessly shrink government, even if it means eviscerating agencies and programs that benefit small businesses.”