On July 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2668, the Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, to clarify the Federal Trade Commission's enforcement authority under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. H.R. 2668, authored by Representative Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), would explicitly authorize the FTC to seek permanent injunctions and other equitable relief, including restitution and disgorgement, to redress perceived consumer injury. The bill was passed by a vote of 221-205, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in support.

In a joint statement issued after the vote, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said: "The Consumer Protection and Recovery Act will restore the FTC's ability to force scammers that have broken the law to repay those who have been harmed or defrauded." Chairs Pallone and Schakowsky moved quickly to usher the bill through their committee and the House just three months after the Supreme Court ruled in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC that the Federal Trade Commission did not have the authority to pursue monetary penalties under Section 13(b).

Facing increasing legal uncertainty in the months leading up to the AMG decision, bipartisan FTC Commissioners had urged Congress to clarify the agency's enforcement authority - and bipartisan Members of Congress expressed support, citing a shared desire to protect consumers and hold fraudsters accountable. Those bipartisan sentiments, however, did not translate to bipartisan legislative text. As we've written previously, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans have voiced process concerns, accusing Democrats of rushing the legislation through the House. Republicans have also stressed the need for statutory "guardrails" to ensure due process and protect legitimate businesses. Throughout the legislative process, for instance, Republicans have sought to amend the legislation to reduce the 10-year statute of limitations and to more narrowly tailor the language to target outright fraudulent acts. Republicans have also expressed concerns about retroactivity, questioning the legality of allowing the FTC to go after prior conduct with the expanded authorities included in H.R. 2668.

Ahead of the vote, Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Ranking Member Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) said, ".this bill before us will provide the FTC with new authorities that far outpace the need supported by a consensus of the FTC Commissioners." He went on to say that the expanded authority granted to the agency in the legislation "signals a return to the broad overreach we saw with the FTC in previous decades - a situation so bad that a Democratic Congress crippled the FTC's funding and stripped it of its authority at that time."

Additionally, House Republicans argue that any 13(b) fix should be part of a broader package of FTC reforms and should move in concert with legislation establishing a national privacy framework - an issue itself full of partisan landmines.

H.R. 2668 now heads to the Senate, where bipartisan Members of the Commerce Committee have expressed interest in a legislative fix - and where Democrats don't have the luxury of disregarding Republican opposition. Perhaps in a nod to that reality, ahead of the bill's passage, Representative Cárdenas said on the floor, "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to negotiate more into this bill and make it bipartisan, but there will be other opportunities as we are a two-chamber legislature, and I'm sure the Senate has some ideas about how to make this bill better. And we're all open to that opportunity."

For his part, President Biden appears ready to sign the bill, should it make it to his desk. Ahead of the House vote, the White House issued a strong statement of support: "The Administration applauds this step to expressly authorize the FTC to seek permanent injunctions and pursue equitable relief for all violations of law enforced by the Commission and ensure that the cost of illegal practices falls on bad actors, not consumers targeted by illegal scams."

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