|
Op-Ed: Federal antitrust bill would grant
'sweeping new powers' to federal bureacrats
[The Center Square] Dan Savickas |
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
It was not that long ago
that Republicans based their agenda on rolling back the regulatory
state. Former President Trump campaigned on a promise of repealing two
regulations for every new one that goes into effect. His administration
largely followed through on that promise, often times exceeding it.
Congressional Republicans worked to limit the powers of federal agencies
to dictate best practices to American businesses and individuals. They
also pushed for the repeal of onerous regulations to keep the economy
afloat at the onset of the pandemic. |
|
 Unfortunately, some elected Republicans have gone from
campaigning on the success of these policies to pushing for increased
bureaucratic control. This push comes in the form of a bipartisan antitrust bill
entitled the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act.” Among the bill’s
eleven original sponsors, five are Republicans. For those Americans worried
about bureaucratic overreach and the ever-growing regulatory regime, this ought
to come as a worrying development.
This is not the only barely-defined term or criteria in this
bill. One of the ways a company can incur enforcement action is if it is
determined they “unfairly preference” a given product or service. Once again,
what constitutes fairness will be up to the FTC. To make matters worse, the
standard for rendering penalties in the bill is only “preponderance of
evidence,” meaning regulators need only be somewhat certain before crippling a
company’s ability to conduct its business as it sees fit.
This bill is hardly about protecting the welfare of consumers and has everything
to do with generating more power for the federal government and unelected
bureaucrats. All this surely squares with Khan’s agenda, as her first open
meeting as FTC chair saw her vote to break with years of precedent, separating
the FTC’s mission from the objective criteria of the consumer welfare standard.
[to top of second column] |
Republicans have long bemoaned the power of the
bureaucracy to pick winners and losers in the economy – and rightly
so. However, their desire to punish big tech companies for private
censorship policies they believe disadvantage conservatives is
blinding them to this danger. As odious and hypocritical as online
censorship may be at times, these are private companies dictating
their own operating procedures. It is not the place of the
government to intervene, nor is there any indication that Khan’s FTC
will use this power to stop at just tech companies.
Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians of all stripes are
playing with fire by enlisting the help of the FTC to settle their
personal squabbles with big tech. They will cede the principles on
regulatory issues to the left and will have no credibility going
forward. Every expansion of government has its consequences.
Fortunately, those consequences are already in full view and it is
not too late for the congressional GOP to turn back now.
Dan Savickas is the Government Affairs manager at Taxpayers
Protection Alliance |
