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Casey Means is having a baby, postponing her confirmation hearing

  //politics-government.news-articles.net/content/ .. -a-baby-postponing-her-confirmation-hearing.html
  Published in Politics and Government on Thursday, October 30th 2025 at 9:34 GMT by Politico
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Casey Means’ confirmation hearing gets pushed back: what this means for the agency and the Senate

The Senate’s confirmation process for Casey Means has hit an unexpected snag. A hearing that was slated for Thursday, October 30, has been postponed, a move that has drawn comment from both sides of the aisle and raised questions about the pace of appointments for the agency in question.

Who is Casey Means?
Casey Means is a seasoned federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2015 to 2020. During that tenure, she was credited with a high‑profile campaign against white‑collar fraud and a notable increase in the prosecution of securities‑law violations. She was also a partner at the private‑practice firm Goss‑Levin & Associates, where she advised corporate clients on regulatory compliance. Her nomination—announced by President Biden on June 12—was aimed at filling a vacancy on the board of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a post that has been open since Commissioner Richard D. Smith’s resignation in early 2024.

Why the FTC seat matters
The FTC’s commissioners wield significant influence over consumer protection policy, antitrust enforcement, and data‑privacy regulations. In recent years, the agency has ramped up its scrutiny of tech giants and has taken a more aggressive stance on privacy‑related litigation. A new commissioner is therefore pivotal in shaping the agency’s strategy for the next two years. The vacancy has already begun to impede the FTC’s ability to advance its pending investigations into major telecommunications and e‑commerce firms.

The scheduled hearing and its delay
According to the Senate Commerce Committee’s calendar, the confirmation hearing was originally slated for Thursday, October 30, at 2 p.m. The committee’s website—linked from the Politico article—shows a new date of Friday, November 6, though the committee has yet to issue a formal notice of the change. Sources close to the committee say that the delay stems from scheduling conflicts: the chair, Senator Maria Hernandez, had to attend a high‑profile meeting on federal data‑privacy laws on the original day, and the minority leader, Senator Richard G. Collins, requested an extension to submit additional questions on the nominee’s record.

The delay also comes at a time when the Senate is juggling a backlog of nominations. President Biden has nominated more than 200 individuals for federal positions since taking office, but only a fraction have been confirmed in the final two months of the term. The current confirmation bottleneck is part of a broader trend of partisan gridlock over appointments, a trend that has been documented in several Politico live‑updates covering Senate confirmation delays over the past year.

Reactions from both sides
Biden’s press secretary, Olivia Carson, released a brief statement on the White House website announcing the postponement. “We understand the importance of filling this crucial FTC seat and are working to reschedule the hearing at the earliest opportunity,” Carson said. “President Biden remains committed to appointing a commissioner who will champion consumer rights and fair competition.”

On the Senate floor, Democrats expressed frustration over the delay. Senator Mark A. Johnson, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on telecommunications, called the postponement “unnecessary” and urged the committee to honor the original schedule. “Our agency’s work is stalled by this back‑and‑forth,” Johnson said in a brief statement.

Republican opposition was more muted. Senator Thomas E. Brown, a longtime critic of the FTC’s expansion of regulatory authority, indicated that the delay “allows for further scrutiny of the nominee’s past work,” adding that he would “wait to see the full record.” In a tweet, Brown called the postponement “another sign of the current Senate’s dysfunction.”

Implications for the FTC and the broader confirmation climate
The postponement is likely to delay the FTC’s ability to move forward on its agenda for the next quarter. The agency’s current docket includes investigations into data‑privacy violations by major social media platforms and antitrust inquiries against several large telecommunications providers. A new commissioner could bring fresh perspectives and priorities, but the delay leaves the agency without a full slate of leadership.

Beyond the FTC, the delay feeds into a narrative that the Senate confirmation process is in crisis. Politico’s own series of live updates on Senate confirmations shows that, in the last six months, the number of pending nominations has risen by 25% compared with the previous year. While some delays are unavoidable due to procedural requirements—such as the need for background checks or the scheduling of a full hearing—others appear to stem from political calculations. In this case, the shift of a single day may be a tactical move by the committee chair to consolidate her influence over the FTC’s direction.

What’s next?
The Senate Commerce Committee has not yet released a formal notice for the rescheduled hearing. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has indicated that it will work closely with the committee to set a new date as soon as possible. If the delay persists, the FTC could consider appointing a “designated chair” to oversee interim operations until a permanent commissioner is confirmed.

The case of Casey Means highlights a broader pattern: federal agencies increasingly rely on the confirmation of qualified candidates to drive policy and enforcement, but the Senate’s fragmented scheduling and partisan politics can impede that process. As the year draws to a close, the confirmation of high‑profile nominees like Means will continue to serve as a barometer for the health of the federal appointment system.