The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) submitted its Fiscal Year 2018 budget request to Congress, in support of the President's FY 2018 budget for the federal government. The budget request also includes the FY 2018 Budget Overview Statement, Performance Plan for FY 2017 and FY 2018, and Performance Report for FY 2016, as required under the Government Performance and Results and Modernization Act of 2010.
The FTC requests a budget of $306 million to support 1,140 positions. The FTC stated as follows in its request:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) is a highly effective independent agency with a unique dual mission to protect consumers and promote competition. For more than one hundred years, the FTC has championed the interests of American consumers. The FTC is dedicated to advancing consumer interests while encouraging innovation and competition in our dynamic economy. To maintain its high level of performance in FY 2018, the FTC is requesting $306,317,000 and 1,140 FTEs.
This fiscal year, the FTC emphasized four areas that reflect key challenges consumers face today: privacy and data security risks; deceptive claims in advertising and marketing; protecting consumers in the financial marketplace; and fraud targeting specific populations. In addition, the FTC continued its longstanding efforts to fight other unfair and deceptive practices. The FTC also enforced its orders against repeat offenders and referred cases to criminal authorities as appropriate.
In FY 2016, the FTC filed 57 new complaints in federal district court and obtained 114 permanent injunctions and orders requiring defendants to pay more than $1.7 billion in consumer redress or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. Defendants also were required to pay more than $139.1 million under seven civil contempt orders. In addition, cases referred to DOJ resulted in 17 court judgments imposing civil penalties of approximately $6 million. Furthermore, the FTC issued 18 new administrative complaints and entered 19 final administrative orders.
These statements reflect the areas of the FTC's ongoing focus on consumer protection, including in the consumer reporting space. We will continue to monitor these developments.
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