Antitrust filing fees should be increased and enforcer deadlines extended to reflect modern markets, FTC Chair Lina Khan said Friday. Congress’ assumptions when the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act passed in 1976 are now severely outdated, considering the recent surge in merger filings, she said during the American Bar Association’s antitrust law spring meeting in Washington.
The Senate Commerce Committee is considering marking up a Section 230-related bill from Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Thune told us Wednesday. Thune and Schatz introduced the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (Pact) Act (see 2103170058) in 2020. “I’ve been told by some of the leading Dems that we think we’re going to get a markup on it, but I don’t know that it’s been confirmed,” Thune told us Wednesday. Schatz said he “heard things. ... You should keep your eyes open. Just look for hearing notices, etc.”
Legislation that permits "cartel behavior," like the bipartisan journalism bill (see 2202280066), is “more likely to hurt the public than to help it,” FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips told us Tuesday. Introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Kennedy, R-La., the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (HR-1735/S-673) would allow news publishers to negotiate revenue sharing with online platforms through an antitrust exemption.
It’s not the FTC’s job to remedy illegal transactions if parties propose “facially anticompetitive deals,” Chair Lina Khan said Monday during an enforcers’ summit with DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Some transactions are illegal on the face, and enforcers need the tools and confidence to block, she said. The FTC’s Republican commissioners didn’t appear at the summit.
The door is open for Congress to name conferees to negotiate its China package, after both chambers cleared procedural hurdles last week (see 2203230065). Senators expressed optimism Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would achieve his goal of naming conferees to a formal negotiation before the end of the work period Friday. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., criticized the lack of return on provisions that would send billions to Intel, the largest American semiconductor manufacturer.
The Senate voted 51-50 along party lines Wednesday to discharge Alvaro Bedoya’s nomination to the FTC. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. Democrats are hopeful he can be confirmed to the commission before the Senate leaves for recess at the end of next week. The Senate appeared likely to delay a discharge vote on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn until at least next week, lawmakers and aides told us Wednesday.
Russia didn’t offer any “swap” or “concession” in exchange for the U.S. release of Russian cyber hacker Aleksei Burkov in August, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Tuesday. The division can’t comment on the wisdom of the release because it’s the Secret Service’s case, he said.
Autonomous vehicles aren’t possible without a steady supply of microchips, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., said Monday during a field hearing in Detroit on China package implications for the auto industry (see 2203230065).
There’s renewed focus on the need for Supreme Court interpretation of Communications Decency Act Section 230 after last week’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson. Legislators and 230 watchers, in interviews, cited the likelihood of active litigation finding its way before the Supreme Court, which hasn't reviewed a Section 230 case.
Expect members of the Senate Commerce, Finance, Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees to be named as China bill conferees (see 2203220074), Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters after Wednesday’s chips hearing.