Click here or the image above to watch Senator Capito’s questioning.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, participated in a full committee hearing on three nominees to be commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and one to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

During her questioning, Senator Capito highlighted the need for bipartisanship when deciding commission rulings, inquired about the FTC’s in-office work policy, and stressed the need for federal employees to return to the office.

HIGHLIGHTS:

BIPARTISANSHIP: “In 2018, I had the honor of introducing former commissioner Christine Wilson – she's a resident of West Virginia – for her nomination, and both she and former commissioner Noah Phillips resigned their positions before their seven year terms were up. She wrote a very well publicized letter that she felt that the leadership had disregard for the rule of law and due process, and brought some questions about bipartisanship and you've heard a lot of questions about this, and you all addressed this in your opening statements. Mr. Ferguson said ‘consumer protection and competition are not partisan issues.’ So, for each one of you… how are we going to get back to that and not keep generating very partisan, 3-2, positions coming out of the commission?”

FTC TELEWORK POLICY:

Senator Capito: “What is the FTC’s policy on workers being in the office physically?”

FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter: “I believe our current policy requires workers to have at least two days in person, per pay period.”

Senator Capito: “So, that’s two days, every two weeks.”

WORKPLACE EROSION: “Okay, so we have a commission here, who according to Senator Cruz's letter of June, 19, 2023 – he cites a study that says that, in 2020, 87% of FTC employees believe the agency's leaders maintain high standard of honesty and integrity. Now, it's just 44% have said that they have a high level of respect for senior leaders. That is that's an erosion of pretty substantial, that's half of the employees.”

NEED TO RETURN TO THE OFFICE: “You talk about the importance of personal relationships. You talk about mentoring and all the ways, and the value of the decisions that are rendered by the staff. Yet, you have a commission that only has people coming in two days out of every two weeks. I understand zoom and all that, we've all done all that, but that does not replace the inner workings of really developing these good relationships.”

WORKPLACE MORALE: “These issues are so huge, and the morale of a workplace really has great impacts on not just what kind of decisions you can come to, but how you can get to the transparency and bipartisanship that that you all expressed a great desire for. And so I agree, everybody's grappling with this, but you see news every single day where the private sector’s saying, ‘you’ve got to come to work.’"

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