There is expected to be a vote next week on Bedoya becoming the next FTC commissioner.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Sunday that the FTC is likely to gain a Democrat majority and will be able to look into alleged price slashing through “Big Oil.”
He added, “And with that–the new Democratic majority on the FTC will allow it to investigate and hone in on price gouging by Big Oil amid their stock buybacks and surging profits.”
The FTC nominee holds a variety of views which are controversial.
A senior GOP adviser said to Breitbart News that Bedoya's confirmation will allow an expansion of the Joe Biden administration's radical agenda.
“Alvaro Bedoya is a radical anti-law enforcement activist that supports defunding the police to fight racism and climate change and has advocated taking away tools that border patrol utilizes to keep Americans safe,” the senior Republican adviser claimed. “Bedoya also supports increasing taxes on hard-working families to fund a left-wing climate agenda. He is a pawn for the Biden administration and the Squad.”
From December 2016 until November 30, 2020 Bedoya was on the Board of Directors of the extreme-left Free Press organization, which has the support of billionaire pro-censorship advocate Pierre Omidyar.
Free Press denounced Blackburn as a “swamp dweller” in 2017. The newspaper also said the Tennessee conservative uttered the “most uninformed talking points.”
Free Press even accused Breitbart News of disseminating “misinformation” and painting “people of color, immigrants, and religious minorities” as the “energy of the United States.”
In a tweet from February, 2021, Bedoya wrote “It is time to call ICE what it is: an out-of-control domestic surveillance agency that peers into all of our lives.'”
In an interview for confirmation, Bedoya claimed that he was ignorant of Critical Race Theory (CRT) even though he was a member of the Board for a group which actively supports CRT.
Bedoya said to Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) that the FTC must “police big tech,” saying that it should have “every tool at its disposal”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has attacked Bedoya for being a “left-wing activist” and a “provocateur.”
Cruz pointed out that Bedoya tweeted at MSNBC host Joy Reid after she called former President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.”
A group of conservatives addressed Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers in March, asking them to refrain from the confirmation Bedoya:
A confirmation from an ideologically progressive ally would grant Chair Lina Khan a greater mandate to transform the FTC and remove its rules, burdening businesses by creating red tape, and destroying the market-driven economy. Khan has been criticized for her adherence to a strict business agenda that is anti-business, disregarding the FTC's precedents, rules and precedents in the process.
…
Bedoya is known for personally attacking and promoting attacks on people he does not agree with. He has retweeted posts that call governors Abbott and DeSantis “death-eaters” and others urging Republican Senators to resign. In addition, Bedoya has shared numerous social media posts that call President Trump and others in the Trump Administration, “racist and racist extremists.” He even tweeted a scathing attack on Baron Trump. This type of abrasive rhetoric and conduct is incompatible with the type of character required of commissioners or members of the FTC.
The conservative groups include Americans for Tax Reform, American Commitment, American Consumer Institute, Open Competition Center, Committee for Justice, 60 Plus Association, The Conservative Caucus, Conservatives for Property Rights, Digital Liberty, FreedomWorks, Independent Women's Voice, and Less Government.
“Bedoya's confirmation would jeopardize investment and innovation, threaten the already weakening economy, and bring never before seen partisanship to the FTC,” the conservative groups stated in their letters. “For these, as well as many other factors, we call on Senators to veto Bedoya's nomination.”
