Pallone Blasts Republicans' Silence on Trump's Unlawful Attempt to Fire FTC Commissioners

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks today at a Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee hearing on "The World Wild Web: Examining Harms Online."

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to set the record straight for the people that are here today. I know I'm not suggesting that the Chairman of the full committee or the Chairman of the subcommittee don't care. But let's not kid the people here to suggest that these bills are going to become law. The bottom line is we passed KOSA and we passed COPPA out of this committee in the last session.

And the House Republican leadership refused to bring these bills to the floor. And you know why? They're in the pocket of Big Tech, and Big Tech does not care at all about kids. If you went to the inauguration, you may have noticed that standing or sitting behind President Trump were all the leaders, the CEOs, of Big Tech.

They tell the Republicans what to do. Now, sure, our guys here in the committee are well intentioned, want to do things for the public and care about the kids. But it doesn't matter because they—the House Republican leadership—they're going to do whatever Big Tech wants. Big Tech does not want these bills. I appreciate your being here today, but it's not going to happen—not as long as Big Tech controls what goes on here, and they do. 

Now, for years, the members of this committee have worked together on a constructive, bipartisan basis to pass a broad array of consumer protection legislation. We've regularly delegated enforcement authority to the Federal Trade Commission: the agency that has consistently been America's strongest champion against the abuses of Big Tech.

It's the FTC that enforces and prevents the abuses of Big Tech. But Big Tech's scammers, you know, their exploitation of nations, children, and adults—both on and offline—that's what we see every day. And it's getting worse. But I find it extraordinary that the Republican majority has called this hearing to discuss ways to increase online safety, particularly for our nation's children, while willfully ignoring the outrageous, unlawful, and unconstitutional attempt just last week by President Trump to fire two duly nominated and confirmed members of the FTC.

My Republican colleagues must understand that President Trump's unlawful attempt to fire the FTC commissioners fundamentally undermines the FTC's ability to continue to protect American consumers. And yet, rather than taking this threat seriously and holding the Trump Administration accountable, Republicans invited as a witness, one of the contributors to Project 2025, which is the problem here! This is the playbook the Administration is using to create an oligarchy that benefits billionaires at the expense of everyone else, including little kids.

In creating the FTC, Congress gave the agency broad authority to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive acts or practices and unfair competition in interstate commerce. Congress recognized the FTC needed to be independent from political pressure and be structured to ensure a measure of consistency across administrations, so that it could conduct its work in an even-handed manner. And Congress created an agency led by commissioners from both parties, who cannot be removed by any president on a political whim, but only for, and I quote, “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” And before now, only one president had attempted to fire an FTC commissioner without good cause and the Supreme Court made it clear in the FTC Act that Congress expressly and properly limited the ability of the executive branch to do so. 

But last week, in attempting to illegally fire Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya, President Trump did not claim that they engaged in “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.” To make such a claim would have been impossible because the commissioners have served with great distinction. So, I just want to say, I guess it's obvious that I'm outraged by President Trump's illegal attempts to oust these two commissioners. It certainly seems that President Trump's biggest donors—including Elon Musk—bought not just a seat to the front row at the President's inauguration, but also an agreement that companies will not face accountability for their misdeeds.

And unfortunately, Committee Republicans are likely to ignore this flagrant corruption and violation of the law. So, look, I just want to say, I know that we have today with us one of the commissioners, Commissioner Slaughter. I still call her the commissioner. And behind her is sitting Commissioner Bedoya, and I call them the commissioners because they were not fired. They are still the commissioners. And I'm hopeful at some point they're going to take this to court, and the courts will overturn it, as the courts have with almost everything that President Trump has done. And the question really is, when that happens: is the President going to abide by the courts, or is he going to say that “I don't care about the courts because I don't care about the rule of law and I don't care about democracy”?

So, we'll see—at one point, hopefully the members on the other side of the aisle, you know, stand up and, you know, defend the rule of law. But so far, I don't see it, unfortunately.

I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

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