Deregulation supporter named head of FTC consumer protection bureau
The acting chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday selected a lawyer and prominent advocate of deregulation to lead the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Maureen Ohlhausen named Thomas Pahl to be acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Pahl served on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) chairmanship and was managing counsel to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under former President Obama.
Pahl, formerly a partner at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Washington, has also worked in various roles in the FTC since 1990.
{mosads}Pahl has pushed for Ohlhausen’s tenure as head of the FTC to become permanent, championing her positions on limited government and her hesitation to regulate. Pahl has also expressed his own penchant for free-market and deregulatory policies.
In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Pahl outlined best practices for the Trump administration to most efficiently and effectively deregulate the government and called on think tanks and industry to aid the president with this.
In the 1990s at the FTC, Pahl aided in deregulatory efforts to get rid of the Frosted Cocktail Glass Rule, which warned consumers about the lethal danger of quick-freeze aerosol spray, and the Nuclear Fallout Shelter Guide, a Cold War-era regulation.
He also spoken favorably about the possibility of limiting the CFPB’s power under President Trump. The CFPB works closely with the FTC.
“I think there’s going to be a change in the senior leadership of the CFPB very soon, and with that change in leadership there will be a greater opportunity to raise concerns with the agency about costs and unintended consequences of its policy choices, especially when it involves newer technologies,” Pahl told Bloomberg BNA in November.
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