President Donald Trump's four U.S. Federal Trade Commission nominees are expected to attend a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.
President Trump tapped the following four individuals for appointment to the FTC last month:
- Joseph Simons, an antitrust lawyer who was nominated as chairman of the agency
- Noah Phillips, who currently serves as chief counsel for Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas
- Christine Wilson, current senior vice president of legal, regulatory and international of Delta Air Lines
- Rohit Chopra, former official with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The FTC, which is generally headed by five commissioners, has been operating with two commissioners since last year. However, both are expected to leave their positions, The Hill reports.
The agency will still have one Democratic seat open if all four nominees are confirmed.
Experts suggest the agency will become much more stringent under Mr. Simons' purview, in terms of the types of mergers and acquisitions proposals it allows to proceed. Mr. Simons' previous written comments cite the agency's weak merger review as the main issue threatening the agency, Bloomberg reports.
"The FTC needs to devote substantial resources to determine whether its merger enforcement is too lax," Mr. Simons said. "If that's the case, the agency needs to determine the reason for such failure and fix it."