House Passes Antitrust Bill That Hikes M&A Fees, As Larger Efforts Targeting Tech Have Stalled
- The House passed an antitrust package that would give federal law enforcement agencies more resources to fight anticompetitive behavior, even as there is a broader effort to crack down on big tech shutdowns.
- The bill would raise funds for antitrust agencies by raising filing fees for companies proposing large mergers.
- It points to the hurdles that more global technology legislation needs to overcome, indicating that bilateral and direct measures are once again hotly debated.
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed an antitrust package that would give federal law enforcement agencies more resources to fight anticompetitive behavior, such as a broader effort against big tech giants. It passed with 242 votes against 184.
Passage of the merger fee modernization bill is an important milestone in a deeply divided Congress. A version of the bill has already passed the Senate, and the House package received support from the White House in a statement this week.
The bill would raise taxes companies pay to federal agencies when a significant merger deal requires government review, which would raise money for the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division. The fee will be reduced for small transactions that require approval.
Antitrust agencies have complained for years that they are severely underfunded, even though the pace of regulation has grown rapidly and many lawmakers expect to face more and more antitrust enforcement. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that the measure would save the federal government $1.4 billion over the next five years.
The package approved by the House included two separate ones at one time. First, the Foreign Merger Subsidy Disclosure Act requires merging companies to disclose subsidies from foreign competitors, such as Chinese and Russian companies, to federal agencies.
Second, the Antitrust Enforcement Act would give state attorneys general more control over which court hears their antitrust cases. The bill, a version passed by the Senate, would resolve a challenge attorneys general have faced in an antitrust lawsuit against Google in Texas, which could lead to the company moving to New York. The nation's attorneys general generally support the measure, so companies can't sue in more favorable jurisdictions.
The separation continues
Despite the legislation's largely straightforward and bipartisan nature, it still sparked debate among Republicans shortly before a vote. Representative. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, questioned why Congress should allow an agency like the FTC to make more money when Lena Khan is run by a "woke radical" during her presidency. .
Representative. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a leading member of the House Antitrust Subcommittee and a supporter of antitrust reforms, rejected Jordan's criticism. After tweeting on the House Judiciary Committee's GOP page that "Democrats want to save more money for Biden's FTC and Justice Department to target conservatives," Buck tweeted one last time to confirm that he and many other Republicans who supported the measures were not supporting Democrats. .
Meanwhile, a handful of Democrats in California have also criticized the state's whereabouts law, even though the state's attorney general has supported it.
The sections underscore how difficult it will be to pass the Comprehensive American Online Innovation and Choice Act, also known as self-preference or anti-discrimination legislation. depends on the markets. This could mean that Google cannot unfairly show local search results higher than a competitor like Yelp. And Amazon couldn't choose to rank their products against the competition.
The bill has been gaining momentum since the beginning of the summer, but optimism about its passage slowly faded after it became clear that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would not vote on it until the planned August recess.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who leads the legislative body in the Senate, said she was not giving up. But time is running out, and heated debate over the less complicated legislation the House approved Thursday suggests the hurdles it faces remain daunting.
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