Three years into the disastrous Biden administration, we know that Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to govern as a moderate is a steaming pile of malarkey. Biden is presiding over one of the most left-wing administrations in American history.
What you may not know is that George Soros-funded activists have a direct hotline into key Biden agencies that have a lot of power over our economy, and their influence is weakening America on the global stage. Fortunately for taxpayers, Republican lawmakers are shining a light on the revolving door between left-wing activists and the Biden administration.
Left-wing activists have a deeply dystopian view of the American economy and its role in the world. Progressives believe that capitalism is an inherently unfair system designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. To progressives, large American companies should be chopped down to size and smothered with red tape, not celebrated as success stories. Instead of defending American economic interests abroad, progressives cheer for collusion between Biden bureaucrats and their European counterparts to tax and weaken American companies.
The left’s America Last economic attitude is the tie that binds a constellation of front groups funded by left-wing billionaires and foundations like George Soros, Pierre Omidyar, Chris Hughes, and the Hewlett Foundation. These groups all push for antitrust legislation that would give Biden bureaucrats sweeping new power over the economy, and advocate for Big Tech and corporate media censorship of conservative viewpoints.
It would be easy to dismiss these groups as left-wing cranks if they did not have prolific influence over the Biden administration. Their biggest coup was installing a progressive activist as head of the Federal Trade Commission, an agency that has massive power over the economy. FTC Chair Lina Khan is a product of the Open Markets Institute, a Soros-funded group dedicated to using government power to push a progressive social agenda. Khan’s deputy, FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, has called for using FTC power to impose a “diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist” agenda.
The revolving door between the FTC and left-wing billionaire front groups is spinning smoothly. Khan has relied on unpaid consultants from the Omidyar nonprofit network to work on antitrust cases. Khan’s chief of staff is Sarah Miller, founder of the Soros-backed American Economic Liberties Project. Miller’s husband is former Bernie Sanders top aide Faiz Shakir, who took over as AELP interim director when Miller departed for the FTC. Elizabeth Wilkins, former Biden FTC official, just joined the AELP as a senior fellow.
Not content with only damaging American companies domestically, the Biden administration has sought to collude with foreign regulators to kneecap our companies abroad. The FTC and Department of Justice have sent staff over to Europe to implement the Digital Markets Act, legislation designed to tax and regulate America’s largest companies. The EU’s top regulator Margrethe Vestager was just in Washington D.C. bragging about her plans to fleece American companies to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
This is where Biden’s Office of the United States Trade Representative comes in, an agency historically dedicated to promoting American trade interests abroad. Under Katherine Tai, USTR has been laser-focused on undermining American interests wherever possible. Tai withdrew longstanding digital trade demands most recently made by the Trump administration, a clear signal that USTR would rather cave to Russia and China than stand up for American interests.
Fortunately for all taxpayers, Republican lawmakers are working to stop left-wing activists that are shaping the Biden administration’s economic policy. As part of a larger probe into left-wing influence on the Biden administration, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) recently demanded that several Soros-backed groups preserve all communications with USTR in relation to their surrender on digital trade rules. The House Ways and Means Committee grilled Tai on her digital trade surrender in a recent hearing, with Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) arguing that “...the Biden administration seeks to appease progressive activists to make trade ‘woke’ and surrender U.S. priorities on digital trade.”
FTC oversight has been a top priority for Republican lawmakers despite the persistent establishment media lie that Republicans support Khan’s agenda. The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), just released a blistering report on Khan’s various abuses of power and ethical lapses. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), has an ongoing probe into the FTC’s collusion with left-wing activists and has threatened to subpoena the agency if it continues to refuse to comply.
Despite Biden’s campaign promises to govern like a moderate, progressive activists have been running Biden administration policy. Luckily, Republican lawmakers are using their oversight authority to stop the Soros-funded infiltration of the federal government.
Tom Hebert is the Director of Competition and Regulatory Policy at Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Open Competition Center.