Coinciding with the Supreme Court ruling that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding process is constitutional, the Federal Trade Commission went to Congress last week seeking additional annual funding for its personnel and resources.

Chair Lina Khan appeared before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government to discuss the agency’s 2025 fiscal year budget request and ongoing work.

“The FTC’s statutory mandate places it on the front lines of some of the most significant hardships confronting American consumers, workers, and small businesses. I am endlessly impressed by the commitment and ingenuity of the agency’s staff, whose hard work and fidelity to that mandate protect Americans’ pocketbooks and their economic liberty,” Khan told lawmakers before recapping seven of the regulator’s most significant accomplishments since seeking Congressional funding last April.

“Funding increases in recent years have contributed meaningfully to our ability to achieve these accomplishments, and they represent only a small slice of the good work of this small-but-mighty agency, which has notched these wins for everyday Americans in spite of opponents who often have near-infinite resources to deploy against us,” Khan continued.

According to her 35 pages of opening testimony, the FTC currently has approximately 1,320 full-time employees, which absorbs about 70% of its annual budget. Khan pointed out the FTC has almost 400 fewer employees than it did in 1980, “when the agency had over 1,700 (full-time employees), even though the nation’s GDP has increased six-fold since that time.”

Khan asked Congress to give the FTC an annual budget of $535 million to employ 1,443 full-time workers, representing an increase of $109 million and 55 employees.

Khan told Congress that this adjustment would fund mandatory and anticipated pay increases and other inflationary non-pay expenses, as well as “critical” IT investments needed for the commission to continue its enforcement work in an “era of big data” and a possible move.

“IT investments are necessary to address the large amounts of data we receive in certain cases, which far exceed the FTC’s hardware, software, and personnel capacity,” she added.

Khan also mentioned the FTC is “exploring ways to reduce facility costs, although savings from these efforts will likely not be realized before the end of (fiscal year) 2025.”

Khan concluded her prepared testimony emphasizing that the budget request “positions us to continue delivering material returns to the American people.

“The FTC continues to seek to fulfill its broad mission on behalf of consumers, workers, and honest businesses using the range of tools and resources Congress has afforded us. We urge you to support the agency’s critical needs in FY 2025 so that the agency can continue delivering on its mandate,” she went on to say.