In testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, Federal Trade Commission Chair Joseph Simons defended the agency's budget request for FY 2019.

Mr. Simons explained that the FTC is requesting a budget increase of $3.4 million for FY 2019, which would result in total funding of $309.7 million. According to Mr. Simons, the increase is necessary in order to fund expert witnesses due to the rising volume of "complex investigations and litigation in both competition and consumer protection matters." He asserted that outside experts are a significant expense for the FTC, and are crucial to supporting complex consumer protection and competition cases. Mr. Simons also emphasized the importance of experts in "proving appropriate monetary relief" in such cases.

Mr. Simons stated that Congress would be required to provide $169.3 million in direct appropriations in order to fulfill the budget request. The FTC calculated that it will collect $140.4 million in offsetting Hart-Scott-Rodino Act filing fees and Do-Not-Call fees in FY 2019. Mr. Simons argued that the agency saved consumers several billion dollars through its enforcement efforts, and added that in FY 2017, it saved consumers "over 12 times the amount of resources devoted to the consumer protection program; over 55 times the amount of resources devoted to the merger program; and more than 39 times the amount of resources devoted to the non-merger antitrust enforcement program."

Mr. Simons also described the agency's enforcement, policy and education efforts in the areas of competition and consumer protection.

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