Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat – Minnesota) unveiled a sweeping antitrust reform bill on Thursday, February 4, setting a tough tone as she becomes chair of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, reported CNBC.
Klobuchar has been a frequent critic of what she and other lawmakers have viewed as lax enforcement of existing antitrust laws and has called for strong measures against some of the major tech firms.
The first proposal of the lengthy legislation is focused on making anticompetitive mergers more difficult by amending the Clayton Act.
It would add a risk-based standard to the foundational antitrust law and clarify that mergers that create a monopsony violate it.
The bill introduced by Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, would also seek to shift the burden to parties seeking a merger to prove that they would not create a risk of lessening competition.
The legislation lists out several categories of mergers that would pose such a risk, including acquisitions by a dominant firm with 50% market share, acquisitions of disruptive firms by competitors, and mega-merger transactions valued at US$5 billion or more.
The other major proposal in the bill seeks to increase the effectiveness of the government’s two antitrust enforcers, the Justice Department’s antitrust division and the Federal Trade Commission.
It would add an additional US$300 million to each group’s annual budget and authorize them to seek civil fines for competition violations.
