FTC firings loom over Hill work to protect kids online
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Democrats plan to make President Trump's firing of FTC commissioners the focal point of an upcoming hearing on protecting kids online.
The big picture: Democrats invited Rebecca Slaughter, one of the two commissioners fired, to testify as the minority witness at Wednesday's House Energy and Commerce panel hearing, setting up a showdown over the agency that lawmakers turn to for enforcing kids' safety measures.
What they're saying: Slaughter and fellow Democratic commissioner Alvaro Bedoya's firings are "a blatant giveaway to the Big Tech CEOs," E&C Ranking Member Frank Pallone and Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky said in a statement.
- "This illegal power grab must be reversed, and if Committee Republicans are really serious about protecting children from online harms, they would join us in making this demand of the president," the two lawmakers said.
- Bedoya and Slaughter have pledged to fight their firings and maintain they were illegal.
- Bedoya also said he'll go to the hearing to show support for Slaughter.
Behind the scenes: Pallone and Schakowsky invited Slaughter to testify after her firing, E&C Democratic spokesperson CJ Young said.
- Young said that Democrats will be "hyper focused on what happened at FTC and sounding the alarm."
- Young added the situation is bigger than the FTC and other agencies are at risk.
E&C Republican spokesperson Daniel Kelly said that "as promised in the beginning of the year," E&C Chair Brett Guthrie and panel Chair Gus Bilirakis "are focused on protecting kids online from bad actors, and that is the focus of the hearing."
- "Our children are increasingly vulnerable to digital threats, and any distraction from that is a disservice to the people we serve," Kelly added.
The firings at the resource-strapped agency tasked with protecting kids online muddies the discussion on passing more laws for the FTC to enforce.
- "Anything that Congress does in the kids space is almost certainly going to be enforced by the FTC and now Trump is trying to destroy that agency," Young said.
Getting kids' online privacy legislation moving has already been tough without the distraction of an FTC lacking its full slate of commissioners.
- Disagreements among Republicans put legislative progress to a halt last Congress.
- While bills like the TAKE IT DOWN Act look likely to pass thanks to White House support, there's still major issues over legal mechanisms in the Kids Online Safety Act, as Axios previously reported.
The bottom line: Democrats are sounding the alarm over Trump taking a chainsaw to independent agencies.
- Bigger questions over institutional norms will loom large over the painful process of getting any legislation across the finish line.
