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Andrew Ferguson seeking to correct budget overruns

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Says smaller staff can still carry out mission

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Agency pursuing cases against Meta, Amazon ( AMZN ) and others

By Jody Godoy

May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is

looking to trim its headcount by around 10%, its chairman told

Congress on Thursday, insisting the agency will be able to

continue antitrust and consumer protection work with what would

be its smallest staff in 10 years.

The FTC is in the midst of an "unprecedented time," pursuing

antimonopoly cases against companies including Meta Platforms ( META )

, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Deere & Co ( DE ), while going

after the largest pharmacy benefit managers over insulin

pricing, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson told a U.S. House of

Representatives panel.

But he said shrinking the agency further would not hamper

that work.

"In terms of accomplishing our mission, we can accomplish

the mission with 1,100 employees. I have no doubt about it.

Because our people are really, really good, and we have shifted

our priority, especially away from rulemaking," Ferguson said.

So far this year, 94 employees have departed the agency,

leaving 1,221 full-time employees, Ferguson said. While it laid

off a handful of probationary employees, the agency is offering

buyouts and has not yet enacted reductions in force.

Ferguson did not disclose the details of the FTC's budget

request, but said around 1,100 was a healthy staffing level

given the agency's current funding. Ferguson's predecessor, Lina

Khan, had hired more staff than the agency could afford, he

said.

The agency has also brought down its contract spending by

more than $6 million this year, Ferguson said. Two workers from

the Department of Government Efficiency have helped identify

contracts to be cut or scaled back, he added.

The agency is eyeing ways to reduce its spending on outside

data storage providers, and curb the bills from expert trial

witnesses that can run as high as $30 million for one case.

Ferguson responded to concerns that DOGE, the Elon Musk-led

initiative to downsize the government, could gain access to

confidential business information, including on Musk's

competitors, that the FTC uses to review mergers.

He said DOGE workers are subject to the same restrictions as

all other FTC employees and cannot access information without

appropriate justification.