Explainer-The long road to replacing Lina Khan at the FTC

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) - A change of leadership at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a central part of the Biden administration's pro-consumer agenda and a lightning rod for corporate criticism, will likely take months under the Trump administration.

What happens to Chair Lina Khan?

FTC Chair Lina Khan's fight against corporate consolidation in the name of consumers won fans among Democrats and some Republicans, including Vice President-elect JD Vance. Despite Vance's praise for her approach, Khan is not seen as likely to stay after the inauguration.

Gail Slater, an adviser to Vance, a former FTC lawyer and an executive at Fox Corp and Roku, is involved in vetting candidates to lead the agency, according to sources familiar with the matter. She is also viewed as a potential candidate for FTC chair.

Who will lead the agency next?

While Khan's term expired in September, she can stay on as a commissioner until a replacement is confirmed -- though she will likely be replaced as chair soon after Trump takes office.

One of the two Republicans on the commission, Andrew Ferguson, former chief counsel to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, or Melissa Holyoak, Utah's former solicitor general, is expected to become the agency's acting chair and set priorities for FTC staff while a replacement is confirmed.

Both Holyoak and Ferguson, who once served as Virginia's solicitor general, were involved in antitrust cases against Big Tech companies before they became commissioners.

Under Biden, it took six months for Khan to be appointed, and the FTC had an acting chair for nearly the first year and a half of the first Trump administration from 2017-2021.

Khan may choose to step down in January, leaving the commission split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

What's the process for appointing a new chair?

Typically, an incoming president nominates new agency heads, who go through a confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate where they face questioning, and are then voted on, first in a Senate committee, and then by the entire Senate.

The timing of the process depends on how Trump prioritizes appointments -- typically other agencies are a priority over the FTC.

Trump, however, has called on Republicans who will lead the Senate to keep it in recess when its new term begins, which would allow him to install agency leaders without a vote to serve for up to two years.

What happens to Khan's initiatives?

Khan's broad approach to antitrust enforcement could continue under a Trump administration, but rules the FTC passed during her tenure are on shakier ground.

If Republicans gain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in addition to the majority they will have in the U.S. Senate, Congress could invalidate a rule passed in October requiring companies to provide easy cancellation methods for subscriptions. The FTC's two Republican commissioners voted against the rule.

The same goes for any rule the agency might pass before the end of Biden's term, such as a ban proposed late last year on undisclosed or misleading "junk" fees that can raise prices for concert tickets, hotel rooms and more.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy; editing by Chris Sanders and Jonathan Oatis)