The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants a larger operating budget and more personnel, and chair Lina Khan made her case last week during a hearing hosted by the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that’s part of U.S. House Committee on Appropriations.

Khan is looking for Congress to boost the FTC’s budget “to continue to fight for consumers and fair competition” to $590 million and expand its workforce to 1,690 full-time employees for the 2024 fiscal year. Khan said the raises would lift the FTC’s annual budget by $160 million and fund an additional 310 full-time employees above what the regulator had for the 2023 fiscal year.

The FTC leader told lawmakers that every dollar of the FTC’s operating costs returned an estimated $30 in FTC-provided benefits to consumers during the 2022 fiscal year.

“We expect that a larger budget would position us to further grow this return on investment,” Khan said in her opening statement to the subcommittee.

“We are making this request because Congress has given the FTC a critical job — but our resources have not kept up. Despite some of the recent increases in our budget, the agency remains smaller than we were in 1980 — even as the nation’s economy has grown six-fold since then,” she continued. “Demands on the FTC continue to grow, as we review multi-billion-dollar corporate mergers, tackle major litigations against unfair or deceptive practices, review millions of consumer complaints a year, and respond to a steady stream of requests for research and investigation of various economic sectors.

“Additional resources would allow us to expand the critical work that the FTC staff is doing. Despite various hurdles, the agency is firing on all cylinders to fully execute on our mandate to promote fair competition and protect Americans from unfair or deceptive practices,” Khan went on to say.

Khan also mentioned that the FTC is looking for additional resources for its recently launched Office of Technology, “so that we can keep pace with an increasingly digitized economy.” Khan said this new office is hiring data scientists and engineers, experts in artificial intelligence and technologists with expertise across a range of additional specialties, including augmented and virtual reality.

“These talented individuals will engage with teams across the FTC to strengthen and support enforcement actions,” Khan said.

“In short, the FTC is on the front lines of some of the most pressing challenges Americans face. Ensuring that we can fully execute on the mandate that Congress has given us requires a greater commitment of resources,” she added.