The President’s Budget and Antitrust Programs
By Paul Steidler: On May 30, the White House released its Fiscal Year 2026 budget appendix, which calls for cutting the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) budget by 10 percent and freezing spending levels at the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DoJ’s) Antitrust Division.
The FTC’s budget would be reduced from $428 million to $385 million. Its work related to antitrust and competition would be cut by 11.2 percent, and its consumer protection work would be reduced by 8.4 percent. There would also be a 10 percent cut in total personnel, from 1,235 employees to 1,100.
The White House wants the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division to maintain funding of $233 million, but its staff would be reduced from 802 to 733. All the DoJ appropriations are expected to come from filing fees related to merger notifications. Nearly 84 percent of the FTC’s budget will come from these and telecommunications fees, with 16 percent from general revenues.
While the cuts are significant, they are less than those impacting many discretionary domestic programs, which are being cut an average of 22 percent.
The reductions also underscore the need for the FTC and the DoJ Antitrust Division to be judicious and temperate in where and how they bring lawsuits and to settle when it is in the public interest to do so.
For more information on the FTC, see PDF pages 1102-1103 of the report below (numbered pages 1096-1097). For the DoJ’s Antitrust Division, see PDF page 608 (numbered page 602).