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The
bipartisan bill, which has yet to pass the U.S. Senate, combines
a merger fee bill introduced by Representative Joe Neguse, a
Democrat, and a measure to mandate that state attorneys general
can pick the venue for antitrust lawsuits, which was introduced
by Representative Ken Buck, a Republican.
The bill, which passed the House 242-184, is one of several
measures under consideration that would strengthen antitrust
enforcers to rein in Big Tech.
One bill would bar Big Tech companies like Alphabet's Google and
Amazon.com from preferencing their own products on platforms
while another addresses Apple's and Google's clout in their app
stores. Hopes are dimming that they will become law this year.
The legislation the House approved on Thursday would lower fees
paid for antitrust reviews of smaller deals to as little as
$30,000. Bigger deals would be more expensive. Deals worth $5
billion or more would pay $2.25 million for their review.
A previous version of the filing fee bill had included budget
increases for the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division
and the Federal Trade Commission, but those have been removed,
according to a congressional aide.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill giving state attorneys general
the right to pick the venue for antitrust fights but has not
passed a measure to update merger filing fees.
Texas, along with other states, brought an antitrust action
against Alphabet Inc's Google in 2020 that the search and
advertising giant succeeded in moving from Texas to a New York
court, angering conservatives.
In the Senate, the House bill has attracted public support from
Republicans Mike Lee, Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton as well as
Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Dick Durbin. It is not immediately
known when or if the Senate will vote on the bill.
Opposition to the bill included Representative Zoe Lofgren, a
California Democrat, who joined with at least four other
Democrats from the home state of Silicon Valley, urging that the
bill be defeated because of the venue measure. California is
home to some of the biggest tech companies, including Google and
Meta Platforms' Facebook.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Richard Cowan; Editing by Franklin
Paul, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
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