Colorado Politics

Neguse, Buck roll out legislation to step up regulation of online giants

U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Lafayette, and Ken Buck, a Republican from Windsor, agree on one thing: America’s anti-trust laws need work.

Neguse is the vice chair on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law; Buck is the subcommittee’s ranking Republican.

Wednesday Neguse, Buck and the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, presented the “Stronger Online Economy” Agenda, which includes making sure authorities have the tools to protect consumers, they said.

The bipartisan bill is one of five drafted by members of the subcommittee on the heels of a 16-month investigation into competition online, which Neguse’s office on Wednesday characterized as “unregulated power wielded by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.”

The legislation is titled the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which sponsors say also raises merger filing fees for the first time in two decades, while lowering the cost for small and medium-sized businesses, to raise money for enforcement by basing filing fees on the Producer Price Index.

“In America, competition is central to economic growth and innovation, and when companies engage in anti-competitive tactics it harms consumers, entrepreneurs and our ability to compete globally,” Neguse, Colorado’s former director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, said in a statement. “I’m proud to help unveil today’s bipartisan legislative agenda for a stronger online economy, a comprehensive set of bills that will expand opportunities for consumers, workers and small businesses by strengthening antitrust enforcement and addressing anti-competitive practices in the digital economy and beyond.

“As a former regulator and leader of Colorado’s consumer protection agency, I know how critical it is for our enforcement agencies to have the necessary resources to do their job.”

Buck said at the press conference, “For my conservative friends’ concern about Big Tech’s power over information and speech, the only way to stop this power is through antitrust reform. These bills address that power.”

Watch the press conference to unveil the legislation by clicking here.

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado speaks at a press conference on new bipartisan antitrust legislation unveiled Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
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