FTC chair says agency will shrink staff to fit current funding, pledges law‑enforcement focus

Washington — Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson told the House Appropriations subcommittee that the FTC is reducing staff and cutting contract spending to bring the agency in line with current congressional funding.

Ferguson, testifying at an oversight hearing, said the agency is pursuing voluntary separations rather than layoffs and aims for roughly 1,100 full‑time employees under the current continuing resolution. “The levels that this committee chooses to fund us, we will maximize the American taxpayers’ return on investment,” Ferguson said. He added that the agency has reduced contract spending by more than $6,000,000 this fiscal year and is building internal data infrastructure to avoid long‑term vendor costs.

Why it matters: Members of the House committee repeatedly pressed the agency for a clear staffing request tied to its enforcement priorities. Budget and staffing determine the FTC’s capacity to conduct antitrust and consumer‑protection litigation, investigate complex mergers and handle emerging issues such as artificial intelligence–enabled fraud and online privacy.

Ferguson told legislators the commission will prioritize investigations and litigation over broad rulemaking and will constrain litigation budgets by imposing upfront spending limits for cases. “We are imposing budgeting requirements within the agency for the first time as far as I know in the agency’s history to make sure that at the outset of litigation, everyone knows what the agency is willing to spend,” he said.

Ranking Member Mr. Hoyer and other Democrats expressed concern about shrinking headcount. Hoyer cited a figure the committee used for staffing and said he worried about the agency’s ability to fulfill its statutory duties if it loses too many experienced employees. A later questioner said the FTC had about 1,221 FTEs and asked whether the agency planned to reduce further; Ferguson replied the goal is to reach an affordable level near 1,100 through attrition and voluntary programs.

Committee members also asked for a written study or justification tying a recommended staffing level to the FTC’s core functions. Ferguson said he could not point to a preexisting study but reiterated that “whatever funding decisions this committee makes, we will maximize your return on investment.”

The agency’s approach to staffing follows a review Ferguson described as necessary after what he called “a two‑year hiring spree” under the prior administration that, he said, left the FTC operating at levels it could not afford.

Ending note: The subcommittee pressed for specific FTE and budget figures that link requested resources to measurable outcomes. Members said they expect the FTC to provide additional documentation for the record to justify any future funding requests and to explain how headcount reductions will affect investigations and litigation timelines.