Alongside legislation in the Senate to fortify antitrust laws, Cicilline and other lawmakers this month introduced a collection of bipartisan bills in the House that would follow through on recommendations of the antitrust subcommittee he chairs. The keystone bill in the package would implement “structural reforms” among the big tech companies, forcing the companies to spin off some parts of their businesses as the only surefire way to end conflicts of interest that have harmed independent firms and consumers. Other bills would rewrite merger laws to prevent further concentration in tech and increase the budgets of the antitrust agencies. The House Judiciary Committee passed the bills last week, with a bipartisan collation that included Buck, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and others; they next go to the full House for debate. In all, the mission to break monopoly power is on its way.

Source: Washington Post June 25, 2021 09:56 UTC