InfoBytes Blog
Senate confirms Bedoya as FTC commissioner; Powell to serve second term as Fed chair
On May 11, the U.S. Senate voted along party lines to confirm Alvaro Bedoya as an FTC Commissioner. Bedoya, who brings a background in privacy and data security, fills the FTC commissioner seat vacated by current CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. A Georgetown University visiting professor of law, Bedoya also founded the law school’s Center on Privacy & Technology. According to the administration’s announcement, Bedoya previously “co-led a coalition that successfully pressed an Internet giant to drop ads for online payday loans” and served as the first chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. (Covered by InfoBytes here.) FTC Chair Lina M. Khan praised Bedoya’s “expertise on surveillance and data security,” and, following his confirmation, stated that his “knowledge, experience, and energy will be a great asset to the FTC.”
The Senate also confirmed Jerome Powell by a vote of 80-19 to serve a second four-year term as Federal Reserve Chair, and confirmed Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to serve as Board Governors (see here and here). Still pending is President Biden’s nomination of Michael Barr to serve as Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve.