Ranking Member Cantwell Presses Trump FTC Nominee to Put Consumers First, OSTP Nominee to Put Innovation First

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, today pressed Mark Meador, President Trump’s nominee to serve as a Federal Trade Commissioner, to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices that raise costs, and to restore FTC’s authority to return money to consumers who have been harmed. Sen. Cantwell also pressed Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She urged him to focus on investments in innovation, research and development needed to outpace the United States’ global competitors.

“The FTC data shows that in 2023 consumers reported losing $10.4 billion to fraud, with a median loss of $500,” Sen. Cantwell said in her opening statement. “This is money consumers don't have to spend on groceries or rent.  So, we definitely need an FTC to be the policeman on the beat and continue to make sure that these pressures facing consumers are addressed.”

Turning to Mr. Kratsios, who would serve as the Administration’s chief scientist, Sen. Cantwell continued:  “…I do need to hear from you today that you will be forceful on the investments that we would like to see in innovation. I know that the Trump Administration has said that they plan to slash the budget of the National Science Foundation by two thirds while implementing sweeping layoffs. I think these are questions that we'll need to know the answer to.  In my state, the University of Washington, obviously, a big R&D institution, feels like it's continuing to help us uncover those important issues that benefit all sectors and increase America's competitive advantages.”

FTC’s 13(b) Authority [VIDEO]

Sen. Cantwell has made restoring the FTC’s 13(b) authority a top priority.  For more than four decades, if a business illegally took money from consumers, the FTC could use its 13(b) authority to take the business to court and return money to consumers. The Supreme Court stripped the FTC of this authority in 2021. Sen. Cantwell pressed Mr. Meador on his support for restoring 13(b) authority. Here is the exchange:

Meador: Yes, Senator, I think it's incredibly important that the Federal Trade Commission have the ability to return money to consumers who have been harmed.

Sen. Cantwell: Right, so do you have any thoughts about how to come to an agreement on restoration of that authority?

Meador: I would defer to this committee and Congress as a whole as to how best to navigate that, but if confirmed, I'm ready and willing to consult and assist with your office or any others to figure out how we can make that happen as quickly as possible,

Sen. Cantwell: But you see that refunds are part of that.

Meador: Yes, I believe when we have consumers who have been harmed by unfair or deceptive practices, one of the best things the FTC can do is get the money back to the consumers

Sen. Cantwell: So, but refunds, writ large, are a good way of preventing anti-competitive behavior.

Meador: They can certainly be a tool. I think, you know, everything is obviously fact specific- it depends on the case, but if confirmed, I look forward to working with the staff to examine what's been effective in the past and what we would want to do in the future.

Research, Test Bedding and Robust Science Funding [VIDEO]

Following her concerns about reported plans to slash NSF funding, Sen. Cantwell pressed Mr. Kratsios on the importance of prioritizing and expanding federal support for testbeds – specialized facilities where new technologies can be tested at scale under real-world conditions before widespread deployment. These facilities are crucial for accelerating breakthrough innovation and securing America's leadership in key industries such as A.I., quantum, biotechnology, aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing. Here is the exchange:

Sen. Cantwell:  Do you believe that [testbedding is] a vital role that we play at the federal level when in aviation or quantum or, you know, somebody can't do the scale at which an industry needs to get an answer?

Kratsios: Yes, test beds have served a very important purpose for a wide variety of technologies. NIST, for example, has a lot of experience in building test beds as well.

Sen. Cantwell:  And so where do you fall- I love that Senator Lee was here as well as Senator Hagerty, because they both - well, one comes from a very benefited DOE state, and the other one is chairing now the Energy Committee- and these are initiatives, oftentimes on the test bed side that are at DOE or at NSF.  What is your thoughts about the President's NSF comments, and how do you think these two agencies fill that role of doing that test bed work?

Kratsios: I think both NSF and DOE have proven with the CHIPS Act implementation and with work that was done even before that for both AI and quantum centers, there's great opportunity to leverage those two agencies with their rich history of funding and creating and organizing user facilities to be places where a lot of these very important test beds can reside for the communities.

Sen. Cantwell: So you want to speak loudly about how robust that is, is that correct?  I want to make sure I get the characterization. I don't want you to say this, and then I'll find out: “Oh yeah, go ahead. Take a meat cleaver to NSF.”

Kratsios: I think it's critically important that through an interagency process that OSTP is able to relay the importance of the scientific and technological community to the larger discussion and ultimately to the decision of the President, and I commit to bring to bear the science and technology advice to those conversations.

Sen. Cantwell: Okay, that sounded more like a politician than a science guy. But okay, what about spectrum? Do you think that we could use a little test bedding on the spectrum technology to help us really move ahead of our competitors here and really get the solution for the future?

Kratsios: I do. I think it's important to do kind of advanced spectrum testing. When I served as acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research Engineering, we did some work around 5G test beds at some of our military bases. And why that was sort of an interesting opportunity was that some of the regulations around approvals for these types of tests were much easier when they were done on military facilities. So I think across all emerging technologies, I think we have to be innovative and thoughtful on how to be able to make sure that the US is continually leading on on these, these technologies.

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