Lawmakers warn removal of FTC commissioners hampers AI oversight and antitrust cases

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and witnesses at a House hearing on Wednesday warned that recent actions removing Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission have slowed or halted enforcement work the agency would ordinarily pursue on competition and consumer-protection matters tied to artificial intelligence.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, the ranking member, and Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya described how litigation and administrative reviews at the FTC were paused after agency judges were left unable to preside because commissioners were removed. Bedoya told the committee that a stay was granted on a major case involving pharmacy benefit managers and insulin pricing and that “this case won't be adjudicated for at least another hundred and 5 days.” He said the pause affects related evidentiary hearings and leaves significant consumer-protection matters unresolved.

Witnesses and Democratic members said the effect reaches beyond that single matter. Bedoya described other FTC actions taken in recent years, including litigation to block the proposed NVIDIA–Arm merger and staff reports examining cloud-provider partnerships with major AI developers, as examples of enforcement activity that can protect competition and innovation. He argued those tools are especially important as AI becomes an input across industries.

Republican members questioned FTC practices and pointed to separate controversies over the agency's handling of confidential information and consent-decree oversight in corporate compliance matters. The hearing record included references to civil litigation and administrative subpoenas involving social-media platform oversight and third-party assessors, which some Republican members raised as reasons to scrutinize FTC processes.

The committee did not vote on any enforcement actions. Several members called for continued oversight of the FTC and signaled possible legislative responses to clarify agency authority, but no bills were enacted at the hearing.