I’m writing to urge you to provide enforcement agencies with the resources they need to rein in corporate lawbreaking.
Alongside the FTC, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division plays a critical role in holding illegal, monopolistic behavior accountable. Despite this important responsibility, the Division has long been deprived of the resources it needs to police anti-competitive behavior.
This is why I am alarmed by proposed appropriations language released this week that would unravel the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act enacted by Congress in 2022. I am adamantly opposed to this and all efforts to undermine the Division’s budget and urge all parties in negotiations to restore the Division’s full access to merger filing fees. While Congress has made little progress on antitrust priorities in recent years, the passage of the Merger Filing Fees Modernization Act was a bright spot and represented an important bipartisan success in supporting antitrust policy and enforcement. And it was a welcome departure from recent decades, in which Congress failed to give the Antitrust Division adequate resources to combat monopolistic actors even as corporate concentration sharply increased.
As noted by Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, the Division employed some 230 fewer staffers as of February 2023 than it had in 1979. Despite insufficient resources, the DOJ Antitrust Division has still worked tirelessly to rein in anti-competitive behavior across a variety of sectors, including airlines, publishing and the tech sector.
At a time when American consumers are reeling from high prices, it should be a bipartisan priority to promote competition and prevent monopolistic behavior. American consumers need relief from unconstrained corporate concentration, and it would be a major mistake for Congress to roll back progress on reinvigorating antitrust enforcement.
I once again urge the White House and congressional lawmakers to stand in opposition to the proposed appropriations text and accompanying conference report, and enhance funding for antitrust enforcers to do their jobs. Thanks.
