April 10 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump should

reinstate two Democratic commissioners at the U.S. Federal Trade

Commission and use the agency to help consumers, 55 Democratic

members of the U.S. House of Representatives said in a letter to

the White House on Thursday.

Democratic U.S. Representatives Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of

Illinois and Jerry Nadler of New York, the ranking Democrat on

the House antitrust subcommittee, led the letter calling the

firings "a giveaway for predatory corporations."

The firings of Democratic Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya

and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter

on March 18

drew sharp criticism from Democratic senators and

antimonopoly groups concerned that the move was designed to

remove opposition within the agency to big corporations.

Meta Platforms ( META ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and OpenAI,

which all donated to Trump's inauguration, face FTC probes or

cases, the members said.

"Rather than simply serving the interests of wealthy

corporations and donors, you should utilize the authority of the

FTC to address the affordability crisis in this country," the

members wrote.

While praising FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson's move to launch

a labor market task force, the representatives said he should

also probe consolidation in markets that affect housing and food

prices, such as home construction firms and egg-laying chicken

hatcheries.

The Department of Justice is already probing the cost of

eggs, which reached record highs earlier this year.

The members also asked the FTC to call for public comment on

consumer debt, with a focus on the sports betting and insurance

industries.