March, 08 2021, 11:00pm EDT
Economic Liberties Applauds Lina Khan's Nomination and Calls on Biden to Appoint More Antimonopoly Champions
The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement in response to news that President Joe Biden will nominate Professor Lina Khan to replace Joseph Simons at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
WASHINGTON
The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement in response to news that President Joe Biden will nominate Professor Lina Khan to replace Joseph Simons at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
"We applaud President Biden for recognizing that Lina Khan is a once-in-a-generation legal mind," said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. "Professor Khan is the intellectual architect of the bipartisan suits against Facebook and Google. She has exposed the dangerous concentration of power in the meat industry. She's identified key national security concerns posed by our concentrated supply chains. And she has written thoughtfully about all of the tools the government should bring to bear to advance the interests of working people, smaller businesses, and local communities."
"Her nomination comes as the pandemic exacerbates this country's long-standing and unaddressed problems of concentrated power," added Miller. "While big corporations grow in size and profit, smaller businesses are going extinct, and workers are barely getting by."
"To address this crisis, the Biden-Harris administration needs to turn the page on the ideology and policies that brought us to the brink," said Miller. "He will need to replace FTC Commissioner Chopra with another antimonopoly champion. He will need to staff the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division with aggressive state enforcers and experienced plaintiffs' side attorneys that will set the department up for success. And he must ensure all appointments are made to advance an equitable economic recovery."
The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America's system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.
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The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.
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