A federal regulator fired by President Donald Trump this week told Colorado lawmakers that he didn’t know why Trump sought to dismiss him, as he and another former official urged legislators to pursue tighter consumer protections amid fraying federal oversight.
Alvaro Bedoya, a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, had been scheduled to address the legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, along with Seth Frotman, the former general counsel for the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The two were set to testify for a special hearing about what states could do to address affordability concerns as Colorado Democrats and Republicans pursue alternate solutions to the state’s high cost of living.
But Bedoya said he received a letter from a Trump aide on Tuesday firing him, a directive that Bedoya said he intends to fight. The Washington Post reported that Trump fired the commission’s only two Democrats.
“I think it’s interesting that the last public statement I made was critical of one of the men standing behind the president’s shoulder at his inauguration: I issued a statement criticizing Mr. (Jeff) Bezos for working his people in (Amazon) warehouses so fast, so hard that they literally have to have vending machines on the warehouse floor dispensing — and capping — the amount of painkillers each of those workers has to get,” Bedoya said. He then reiterated that he didn’t know if his comments about Bezos — or the FTC’s ongoing lawsuits against Bezos’ companies — were related to Trump’s letter.
In an earlier roundtable with Colorado ride-share drivers, Bedoya said he would challenge his firing in court. Trump’s directive appeared to violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that specifically protects FTC commissioners from being terminated by presidents for political purposes.
Bedoya’s abrupt — and disputed — dismissal added new emphasis to a hearing that otherwise largely focused on Colorado Democrats’ preferred slate of affordability legislation, including measures to regulate so-called junk fees and to limit the use of algorithms to set prices and salaries.
Frotman, who now works for the Denver-based progressive nonprofit Towards Justice, warned lawmakers that the gutting of his former agency — charged with protecting consumers from financial misconduct — imperiled people in Colorado. He said states should be “tremendously concerned” about cuts to the agency, known as the CFPB.
“There are things that your attorney general can’t do,” he said. “… If the CFPB is literally sitting on its hands, that’s a tremendous liability for the people of Colorado.”
After the two former regulators finished urging lawmakers to back tougher consumer protection regulations, the Senate Judiciary Committee debated the hidden fees measure.
The bill requires more transparency around pricing, while banning several fees common in rental housing. It had already passed the House and was nearing Gov. Jared Polis’ desk.
Two Democratic members of the committee, together with the body’s Republicans, then backed a hostile amendment weakening the bill by stripping language allowing Coloradans to sue companies that violate the law, should it pass. The measure now would rely on the attorney general to provide enforcement.
Democratic Sen. Lisa Cutter, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the change was “a big loss.”
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