A bipartisan bill targeting Big Tech dominance passed the House of Representatives by a 242-184 vote on Thursday (Sept. 29) but in a scaled-down version from the original introduced in June 2021.
The package of bills proposes to raise fees for antitrust reviews of the biggest mergers and gives state attorneys general greater power in antitrust cases, according to a press release from the House Judiciary Committee.
The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act also would require tech firms to use the merger notification process and disclose any subsidies received from countries deemed a risk to the U.S.
The measure now goes for vote before the Senate, where it is expected to pass, before heading to the Oval Office for President Joe Biden’s signature.
By requiring larger corporations to pay an increased fee, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will have more resources to put the necessary experts in place to more efficiently determine if a proposed deal would hurt consumers or small businesses.
See also: Sen. Klobuchar: Big Tech Money, Ads Slow Advance of Antitrust Bill
The original separate antitrust bill Congress was considering — the American Innovation and Choice Online Act — would have stopped Big Tech firms from taking advantage of their dominant market position. Co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the legislation lost momentum following lobbying efforts by Google, Amazon, Apple and Meta, PYMNTS reported earlier this month.
Co-sponsored by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act updates the filing fees that both companies involved in a merger transaction pay to have federal antitrust enforcers review the proposed deal.
“These fees have not been updated in two decades, which has left these agencies in desperate need of more resources to complete their increasingly heavy workload,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in the release.
“Critically, this legislation raises revenue to support necessary antitrust enforcement while also saving taxpayers $1.4 billion over the next five years,” Nadler added.
Read more: Smaller Tech Firms Back Measure to Rein in Big Tech Competitors
The Biden administration has been an advocate for antitrust legislation targeting Big Tech and endorsed the bill earlier this week, urging the House to pass it. The Biden Administration stated that both the FTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) need adequate resources to enforce antitrust laws.
The Administration said that both agencies have smaller staffs now than they did in 1979, “even though the economy has grown significantly since then, and even though the agencies’ core missions involve bringing complex cases against some of the best-resourced companies in the world.”
Filing fees paid in advance of premerger review by the DOJ and the FTC have not changed in relation to the growth in the “number, size, and complexity” of mergers happening in recent years, according to the statement from the White House.
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