Months have passed since Sen. Chuck Schumer was expected to hold a vote for an antitrust bill designed to rein in Big Tech — and its top Republican backer is slamming the gentleman from New York for dragging his feet.
“It’s past time that the Majority Leader bring up our bipartisan antitrust bill cracking down on Big Tech’s anticompetitive behavior,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Post. “We need a date certain for a vote, and I call on Sen. Schumer to name one — if not before August recess, then this fall.”
The renewed heat comes as the Senate gears up for its final two legislative weeks before an August recess, after which many members will be consumed with midterm campaigns.
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“The Senate has spent weeks on either purely partisan legislating or inconsequential nominees,” Grassley griped.
Grassley wants Schumer to hold votes for a bill that he’s pushing alongside Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that supporters say would reduce the power of tech giants like Amazon and Meta to stifle market competition. Axios reported in May that Schumer was planning an “early summer” vote for the bill, but that season has since come and gone.
Democratic US Senator Amy Klobuchar and lawmakers from both parties said they had the Senate votes needed to pass legislation that would prevent tech platforms, including Apple and Facebook , from favoring their own businesses, as early as June. However, no vote has yet been called.
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