AMAC and Free2Care believe any recommended nominee for the FTC should be willing to work with Chairwoman Khan and their fellow commissioners to address important issues and be willing to stop unnecessary investigations and penalties from being placed on American businesses that are competing fairly in the free market.
September 20, 2022
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
United States Senate
S-230, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Minority Leader McConnell,
On behalf of over 2.3 million members of the Association of Mature American Citizens – AMAC,
and 8 million Free2Care advocates, we write to urge you to recommend a strong nominee for
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that will work with their fellow commissioners to rein in
bad actors in the business community to protect Americans.
Americans are concerned by the anti-competitive business practices used by some industries
and have been supportive of some of the actions taken by Chairwoman Lina Khan and the
commission to investigate these practices. Two examples are the FTC investigations into
Pharmacy Benefit Managers and social media companies manipulating algorithms to target
users including young users like AMAC members’ children and grandchildren.
It is very important for the FTC to have five members to ensure a balanced approach to its
investigations and your input on the current vacancy will help determine the direction the FTC
takes in its current and future investigations. We have seen many claims from other
conservatives saying Chairwoman Khan is “out-of-control” and attacking the free market. Any
pick for the FTC should support the free market but should also be interested in stopping
businesses from engaging in anti-competitive business behavior that puts the free market at
risk.
We believe any recommended nominee for the FTC should be willing to work with Chairwoman
Khan and their fellow commissioners to address important issues and be willing to stop
unnecessary investigations and penalties from being placed on American businesses that are
competing fairly in the free market. AMAC and Free2Care fully support the current investigation
into Pharmacy Benefit Managers and their use of anti-competitive businesses practices that
impact the price of outpatient prescription drugs. A future FTC commissioner should embrace
these necessary investigations.
As organizations recognizing the prosperity and innovation that can result from the free market
allowing open and fair competition, we want the FTC to be hands-off when the free market is
working. However, the FTC must also serve as a backstop when the free market fails, often
because of government intervention allowing unfair business practices. Thank you for working
with the administration to ensure a qualified nominee is chosen for this important position and
we urge all Senators to quickly approve their nomination.
Sincerely,
Bob Carlstrom
President
AMAC Action
David Balat
Executive Director
Free2Care
Given FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan’s history before taking the FTC post and her general views that the FTC should be used as some sort of weapon to bash businesses into submission to the federal government, it is perhaps somewhat overly optimistic to think Republicans in the Senate should look to nominate someone who agrees with Lina Khan’s anti-capitalistic beliefs. The last thing we need Republicans in the Senate doing is helping the Democrat majority to approve nominees that share the view that businesses in the United States need to beaten into submission to advance the progressive agenda. We have far too much of that sort of activity already.
Agree
Agree